Past Meets Future
by Krystel of Elaria
Summary: Cowritten with my friends, SouriMaxwellYuy068 and HieisSoulmateIsKagome. The Ronins are helping Ryo find a present for Mia's birthday when they see a mysterious girl following them. Who is this mystery girl, who has something to do with the Ronin's Future
1. Chapter 1

Hey everyone! Okay this is my first story so don't kill me if it's bad.

**Rating: **T

**Pairings:** You'll have to find out for yourself

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any characters relating to the Ronin Warriors, even though I own the DVDs. I only own my OCs and my friends who helped me write this story own their OCs

**SSSSSSSSS **scene change

_italics_ telepathy

"yap yap yap" talk

'yap yap yap' thoughts

Well that is it. So on with the story.

**Past**

**Meets**

**Future**

**Chapter 1**

Ryo sighed as the mob of people pushed past him threatening to separate him from his friends. What was it about today that made everyone decide to go to the mall? What on earth was he doing here for that matter? He hated shopping and had no fashion sense whatsoever, exactly as Sage kept telling him. Suddenly, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise, and got the eerie feeling someone was watching him. He slowly turned around, eyes scanning the crowd. He thought he saw a glimpse of ebony hair, but then again, there were quite a few people in the crowd, so Ryo shrugged and turned around, only then realizing that his friends had been speaking to him. "Hey, were you even listening to me Ryo?" Sage asked, sounding annoyed. "Uh not really" he confessed, "so tell me again just what we're doing here" he requested. Five pairs of eyes rolled in sync at their friend's complete and utter hopelessness.

"We're looking for a present, for Mia, for her birthday next week" Cye said in exasperation.

"And you have got to find something for her" Rowen pointed out, "you've been dating her for about a year now, you can't just blow this off".

"Rats", Ryo grinned at the stressed look on his friend's faces, he knew they hated shopping with him, he was impossible.

"Why don't you just take her out to dinner?" Kento suggested.

"Just because food is you're perfect idea of a gift, Kento, doesn't mean its Mia's" Sage said, his voice strained.

"Jewelry?" Cye put in.

"Too expensive" Ryo replied with a shudder.

"Chocolate?" Celena suggested.

"Too impersonal Celena" Ryo said.

"Clothes?" Cye asked.

"Wouldn't know what to get" Ryo replied.

"Well make up your mind!" it wasn't like Cye to shout, but Ryo was trying even his patience. "Let's take a break, maybe Ryo will figure something out" Rowen suggested, laying a hand on Cye's shoulder. "Can we go to the food court?" Kento asked plaintively. Ryo felt that sensation again, and this time he jerked his head around as quickly as possible. He caught a brief flash of a girl, with long raven hair, she was staring directly at him, but once she noticed that he'd seen her, she backed away into the crowd before he could actually see what she looked like. The only thing he'd noticed was her hair. "So can we or not?"

"Uh yeah, sure thing Kento" Ryo shook his head to clear it; he felt a sense of foreboding.

"Hey, you okay man?" Sage asked, frowning in concern at his friend.

"Yeah, I'm fine; now let's get something to eat before Kento resorts to cannibalism". "Hey!"

Later on, the six managed to grab a table at the food court. The amount of people eating was unbelievable. "Geez, there sure are a lot of people shopping today, aren't there?" Cye remarked as he set his tray down with a soft clank. "I haven't seen it this crowded in a long time" Sage remarked.

"You would know," Rowen cracked "since you're here every week with a different girlfriend"

"Oh ha ha ha Rowen, your wit is absolutely astounding"

"Why thank you Sage" the blue haired boy grinned.

Then the grin melted off of his face as he noted to the distracted look on his friend's face.

"Sage?"

"Don't look now guys, but we're being watched" Sage murmured. When the other five began to look around in alarm, he hissed "I said don't look!" "Where?" Kento questioned "is it the Dynasty?"

"No, look over there, about three tables down and to the right" the blonde warrior instructed. As one, the others turned and looked. Sitting at the indicated table was a girl with long, raven hair that poured past her waist. Her eyes were such a startling blue that they had to have been contact lenses, there was no other way for them to be that shocking a sapphire. Sure enough, she was watching them out of the corner of her eye, sipping at a soda distractedly. She made a face and pulled away, as if the taste surprised her.

"Her again?" Ryo wondered aloud.

"What!" his friends gaped at him.

"You know that girl?" Rowen frowned.

"No, but I swear she's been following us around all day"

"Oh no" Cye shook his head dejectedly.

"Sage has snared another one" Celena finished.

Sage flashed them a devilish grin and stood up. The girl saw him approach and her eyes widened in panic, a group of teens passed in front of her table, blocking off their view. When they'd finally passed out of the way, the girl was gone, leaving only a still mostly full cup of soda. "Well that was strange" Ryo frowned, "I wonder what that was all about?"

"Something tells me we're going to find out" Rowen muttered.

**SSSSSSSSS**

The guys returned home around dusk empty handed. Mighty Ronin Warriors they might be, but mall rats they were not. The only ones out of all of them of them who knew anything at all about shopping were Sage, Celena, and the other girls, and they were simply not good enough to instruct the others. Home for them was the Koji estate, a huge mansion far too large for Mia Koji to live in by herself, and since all eleven of the warriors were attending colleges nearby, she was letting them stay with her, free of charge, with one small exception. They all had to pitch in for the food bills. A reasonable enough request, considering how much six teenage boys and four teenage girls ate. Rowen, Cye, Celena, Lee, and Cye's twin brother Cyoran were all enrolled in Mia's university, Shinsha U, and the other five were attending a smaller school not to far away.

"Guess we'll have to try again before next Wednesday" Kento shrugged.

"Too bad we're all still absolutely clueless about what to get her" Rowen sighed, shaking his head ruefully.

"Let's go sit down inside" Cye suggested "I lost count of how many times my feet were stepped on today"

"Ditto" Ryo agreed.

Before they opened the door, they were greeted by two deep rumbles and two light rumbles, and a huge weight bore Ryo to the ground.

"Ugh, hello White Blaze" he managed to choke out around the barrage of tiger breath.

"Hello Iya, Icoro, Blue Fire" Celena said petting each tiger.

"Um, you can let me up now White Blaze" Ryo said, the huge white tiger backed off, looking slightly guilty.

"Good boy, you four just keep standing guard" Ryo patted the tiger's head, as the other five crept inside around the four big cats.

"Uh where are you going Celena?" Rowen asked, as he saw her heading for the stairs.

"I am going upstairs to rest and please don't wake me up ok or I'll pour cold water on you while you're asleep" Celena replied calmly, and then she turned and went upstairs. The boys looked at each other they had learned from past experience that when Celena said something with that attitude she usually meant it.

"Don't you think White Blaze, Iya, Icoro, and Blue Fire are taking the whole guard thing a bit too far?" Kento asked.

"No, it keeps them busy, now that the Dynasty's gone and there's nothing for them to fight anymore, they're getting bored" Ryo replied.

"I can sympathize, things are just too quiet here anymore" Rowen nodded.

"That's the sort of thing I'd expect to hear from Kento" Cye smiled slightly.

"It's no problem for you Cye, you never liked fighting anyway, but the rest of us" Sage let his voice trail off. He didn't have to finish, the others understood. They'd grown so used to fighting off threats to the mortal world that life just seemed rather; empty now that they didn't have to do that anymore.

"Guys?" Mia's voice echoed from the living room, "is that you?"

"Yeah, we're back!" Kento hollered back.

"Uh, there's someone here to see you" Mia's voice sounded shaky, like she was frightened.

The Ronins exchanged a glance and tore into the room where Mia's voice had come from. It was hard for all five of them to fit through the entrance, but after a little bit of struggling, they made it, and instead of the wreckage they'd expected, it was something completely different. Mia was seated on one of the three couches which furnished the room, and there was another person sitting across from her. Ryo felt his eyes go wide when he realized who it was. "What are you doing here!" Rowen exclaimed. The girl who'd been trailing them at the mall sat on one of the couches, gazing at the teens with those piercing blue eyes. "I apologize, Rowen of the Strata" she said in a low voice, "I did not mean to alarm you"

"H-how did you…" Rowen stammered.

"Know about our armors?" Kento finished. He peered closer at the girl, she looked extremely familiar somehow, "Do I know you?"

"Not yet, but I've known you my entire life" she replied, looking straight at him.

"This is getting weird" Cye murmured, then in a louder voice he asked "Just who are you?"

"My name is Reika, I've lived in Toyama my whole life, and I was born in the year 2357, and I need your help, Ronin Warriors" she stated as calmly as if discussing the weather.

"**WHAT!**" six voices demanded.

"Y-you're from the future?" Rowen gasped.

"When did you develop a stutter?" Reika frowned.

"**I DON'T HAVE ONE!**" he shouted.

"That's not the point now Rowen, what we need to know is what she wants with the Ronin Warriors" Sage said.

"And what do you mean when you said you where born in 2357?" Mia asked, "That's just not possible, not if you claim to know the guys as well"

"Why not?" Reika asked.

"Because that's over three hundred years in the future, they'd have died long before that" Mia said.

"No lady, I'm afraid not" the girl shook unruly bangs out of her eyes "you see, the armor they wear prolongs life, and that is how they are still alive in my time, and how I know them" Reika replied.

"How did you get here, it's only 2000, nowhere near your time" Cye pointed out.

"Lady Kayura used the Staff of the Ancients to send me back to seek you out for help" Reika replied.

"How do we know this isn't some Dynasty trick?" Ryo asked, stubbornly crossing his arms over his chest. Reika's eyes met his and for a moment there was a flash of pain, gone so fast he wasn't so sure it had really been there. "I understand your caution, and I can prove the Lady sent me" she fumbled at the collar of her shirt, before pulling up something with a golden chain. "Here!" she trust out a charm at the end of the chain. "Th- that's!" Rowen said.

"You're stuttering again" Reika pointed out.

He gave her a dirty look, then turned his attention back to the emblem. It appeared to be a small globe, with wings protruding from either side.

"It's the top of the Ancient's staff!" Kento exclaimed.

"Yes, it is, and until I use it to return, the Staff is 'out of order' so to speak" Reika said.

"Kayura's still alive as well?" Mia inquired.

"Yes, she is, and was quite well the last time I saw her" Reika replied.

"When was that?" Ryo asked.

"Ummm," Reika's face screwed up in thought "about two weeks ago, I think"

"You've been searching for us all that time?" Cye frowned.

"Yes" Reika replied.

"But why?"

"Because we need your help" she took a deep breath and focused on her feet "you see, two months ago, our home was invaded by the Dynasty"

"**WHAT!**" Expressions of shock registered on both Mia's face and those of the Ronins.

"How is that possible?" Ryo gasped, "We killed Taparago, and the Dynasty was cleaned up by Kayura and the Warlords, how could they return?"

"We don't know, Kayura said that it had something to do with weakening barriers" the girl heaved a sigh and looked at them again, "do you still think I'm from the Dynasty?"

"No" six heads shook, accepting her story.

"Ok, so far we know you're from the future, that Kayura sent you and that you need our help to kick Dynasty butt again" Kento summed it all up, "but what I don't get is why you need our help, you've already said that there are Ronins in your time, so what's up?"

"Well, there are two reasons actually" Reika confessed, "the first one is that about a month before the Dynasty reared its ugly head, the amulets suddenly disappeared!"

"**WHAT!**" six voices gasped in shock.

"How did that happen, the amulets are the greatest source of power in the world, and the armors work on that power!" Sage demanded.

"We don't know" she shook her head, "but don't worry, it's nothing serious, they can still use the powers and magic the amulets gave them, and the armors haven't lost any of their powers though the amulets are gone and they are still keeping the bearers young"

"Well at least that's good to know, but just how old do we look in the future early fifties?" Rowen said.

"No" Reika said with a laugh, "you actually look 22 age wise, that's because the armors started keeping the bearers young after reaching maturing age"

"Well that is really interesting, I still look as if I just turned 22 and not an ancient looking person in their early fifties" Kento said with a sigh.

"Okay so at least we know the future Ronins aren't suffering from aching joints and are quite capable of fighting battles still, but what's the other reason?" Cye asked, a slight frown creasing his forehead. Reika clenched her hands together and looked back the floor. "Well," she said in a small voice, "during the first surprise attack by the Dynasty, the Ronins were caught unaware, and, and" Her voice trailed off into a sob, and her shoulders started to shake. The six teens exchanged looks of surprise and concern. What was the deal with her? Mia sat down next to the girl, "You can tell us Reika, it's alright"

She turned a tear-stained face at the guys, "Cye of the Torrent, he, well, the Dynasty warrior" she took a deep breath and fresh tears poured down her face, "**HE ALMOST DIED**!"

"**WHAT!**" how many times had they said that lately?

"I almost died?" Cye gasped, feeling shock wash over him like a tidal wave.

"Yes but he just barely survived" Reika added.

The Ronins looked at Cye, who was gazing off into space, eyes wide. "We're just glad that he survived" again she shook her hair out of her face, "he was wounded pretty badly and he almost didn't make it and without his armor…"

"Without the armour of Torrent, you can't create the Inferno or Universal Armor" Mia finished.

"And our armors all work together" Cye put in coming out of his state of shock, "without the fifth, we won't be able to complete the power circle"

"So you see why we need you help so badly?" those electric blue eyes pleaded with them, "we won't be able to defeat the Dynasty without your help, please come back with me, please?"

They all exchanged a glance, and unspoken thought went between them. "Can we talk about this in private first?" Sage asked. Reika nodded and stood, "Sure thing I'll wait outside" she walked silently down the hall and the only sound she made was the soft click of the door closing.

"What do you guys think?" Rowen asked his friends, "can she be trusted, or is this just a trick?"

"It's not a trick" Cye spoke up. Five heads turned to look at him and he flushed shyly, "I can tell my kanji is Trust after all"

"What makes you think she's telling the truth?" Ryo asked, still visibly shaken up from the news of Cye's near death experience.

"She's wearing the emblem of the Staff, and unless I'm greatly mistaken, nether spirits can't even touch the symbol, let alone wear the original Staff globe around their neck"

"How did you know that Cye?" Mia asked, a curious look on her face.

He flushed again, "Well, I was looking around those files of your Grandfathers once, just to make sure it didn't mention anything about Talpa or anyone else, coming back again, and I found that little bit of info"

"I see" Mia seemed to go off into her own world, contemplating the new data her friend had dug out of her Grandfathers encrypted files.

"So, do we go, or not?" Rowen dove straight to the point.

Kento spoke up, "I think we should go" when the others turned to look at him, he continued, "look, our job is to fight the Dynasty, and life is extremely dull around here these days, we need some action"

"I'm with Kento" Cye agreed, the other four shot him extremely surprised looks; Cye avoided fights if possible, "we have to help, it's just not right to leave those people to struggle on their own"

Sage nodded, "You're right, it really ticks me off to think that those Dynasty jerks have found a way back again, we've got to stop it"

Rowen agreed with his best friend, "Of course we'll go, and if it is somehow a trap, we'll deal with it, the way we always do, if we take care of this now, then when Reika's future becomes our reality, the Dynasty won't be there, and they won't be able to do what they did" The other three nodded and then all four turned to glance at Ryo, he was the unofficial leader, and after all, if he vetoed the decision, they wouldn't go.

"Ryo?" Cye asked.

Ryo looked up from his study of the carpet, "When we accepted our armours," he began slowly, "we swore we'd crush the Dynasty, where ever we found it, where ever, not when ever, but I think we should go anyway; it wouldn't be a violation of our oath if we didn't, Kayura and the Warlords have pretty much taken care of things in the Dynasty so far, they can keep doing it until we get back" Mia spoke up, "I'm going with you" she said in a determined voice. When the others all looked at her, she raised her chin defiantly, "look, you're not leaving me behind this time, what if someone captures me and brings me to the future to use as bait, if the Staff can be used to travel through time, why couldn't the Dynasty's minions do it to, you can't afford that kind of distraction" The five teens all exchanged a glance. Mia had a good point, they couldn't just leave her there, it wasn't right. Besides, they'd taught her a few basic self defence manoeuvres, enough to keep her out of trouble until help arrived, so maybe she could be a help instead of a hindrance for once, but she did have the Armor of Stars so that was an option if the defence manoeuvres weren't any good. But what were they going to do about Celena, Cyoran, and the others, well they might as well stay here just in case the Dynasty did attack the past it would have some people to defend it, besides with the Warlords help they could handle it till they got back.

"Okay Mia, you can come, but you have to stay with White Blaze at all times, got it?" Ryo asked.

Mia nodded, "Got it, but who said White Blaze was going anyway he's not here"

They all looked shocked at the thought that Ryo's tiger companion wouldn't be joining them. Then they shook it off, of course White Blaze would be coming, he'd never let them go off to a battle without him or Iya, Icoro, or Blue Fire it was unthinkable. "In that case, I'll go get Reika so you can tell her the good news" Mia stood and smoothed down her skirt, "I'm sure she'll be relived"

**SSSSSSSSS**

Reika sat on the front step, staring up at the night sky. Night had fallen, and the stars were winking down at her like old friends. It was reassuring how familiar they were, even after three hundred years, most of them were right where she'd left them. The soft creaking noise of the door opening alerted her to someone's presence. She didn't turn around though. A soft whish of cloth on stone indicated that whoever it was had taken a seat beside her. "What are you looking at?" the young women's voice came. Reika knew who it was though she had made them think she didn't know Mia at all or who she was, and she knew from the future that the Ronins had trusted her with the truth about the armors. "The stars" she answered, never looking the women's way, "they're so beautiful, and I haven't seen them since the Dynasty descended, probably because of those horrible clouds they bring with them, I could look at them forever" A soft chuckle could be heard, "Don't ever let Rowen hear you say that!" she smiled, "he'd probably take you at face value and try to make an astrologer out of you"

"Who do you think got me so interested in the Heavens in the first place?" Reika asked wryly, "when I was a little girl, we would used to lie on our backs on the balcony and watch the stars come out, he taught me all the constellations, most of which are still here I even saw a Super Nova once!" Mia glanced at the raven-haired girl out of the corner of her eye, "Who are you that you know the Ronins so well?"

"Let's just say they're friends of my family" she replied. Then her voice took on a questioning tone.

"I'm sorry, but I didn't quite catch your name"

"Oh, I'm Mia Koji" the two girls looked at each other and smiled.

"You already know I'm Reika, so it would be useless to repeat myself, I'm sorry to say this but we don't talk about the past very much they barely mention when they met you"

A look of sadness swept over Mia's face, "Oh well, I guess after three hundred years would be enough to forget about anyone, they're immortal right?"

Reika nodded, "They are, but I don't think they forgot about you, they still talk about you, you seem to be really good friends with them, especially Ryo" her voice took on a sly tone.

Mia's eyes widened in shock, "Is it that obvious?" she asked quietly, turning her head to look at the ground.

"Not really, I'm just really good at reading people" the other girl responded, "anyway, what I was getting at is that you are still alive in my time and that you didn't die and still look young considering that three hundred years have past"

"What how can I still be alive I'm not immortal" Mia said shocked.

"Actually you are and the reason for that is that your married to one of them in the future but I'm not going to say to who" Reika replied. Mia considered that, "Maybe you right it's interesting at any rate" then she stood up and extended a hand to help Reika to her feet, "they've come to a decision, and they want to speak to you"

**SSSSSSSSS**

The five teens rose to their feet as the two young women re-entered the living room. Ryo gestured for Reika to take a seat, which she did, those huge blue eyes sweeping over all of them, getting the uncanny feeling that she knew a lot more than she was letting on.

"We've decided" Ryo stated simply.

"And?" Reika could scarcely allow herself to hope that they might agree to come with her, even though they were her people's last hope.

"We'll go to the future, and fight the Dynasty again" he finished; he was totally unprepared when Reika threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.

"Oh thank you Ryo!" she laughed, tears of relief running down her cheeks. She pulled away and her eyes scanned them all once again, "Thank you, all of you"

"But only on one condition" Sage said sternly, "we leave in the morning, after we get a good night's rest"

"Condition accepted" the girl flashed a white smile.

"Well," Mia said briskly, trying to help Ryo out, he looked so embarrassed, "anybody for dinner?"

"Ooh, Ooh!" Kento waved his hand in the air, "I am!"

"Why am I not surprised?" Mia asked rhetorically.

Reika grinned, "Well, at least Hardrock's appetite hasn't changed much"

Cye rolled his eyes, "He hasn't eaten since the food court, so I'm guessing he could strip the pantries bare" he shook his head, "I shudder to think of cooking"

"I'll handle it Cye" Mia reassured her friend, "don't worry about it"

"I'll help too" Reika piped up. Six pairs of surprised eyes turned to look at her, "well, it's the least I can do" she shrugged.

**SSSSSSSSS**

Later, as everyone sat around the table, Kento leaned back and patted his stomach. "Man, where did you learn to cook like that?" he managed to say.

Reika jerked her thumb at Cye, "He taught me" she answered.

Kento winced "I wish you'd stop talking like that" he pleaded.

Reika just shrugged. "Seriously though, in my time, there are two people with your bottomless stomach" she said.

"Whoa!" Rowen's eyes bugged out, "Two! How is that possible? Obviously one of them is Kento, but then whose the other one?" all six of them glanced at Reika for an explanation. She smiled evilly, "His son" she replied. There was a violent fit of coughing that seemed to spread around the table as shock gripped them all. Sage, who had been taking a sip of milk, ended up spraying it all over the table. Ryo had to reach across and pound on his friend's back.

"H-his what?" Cye managed to gasp.

"His son" at their looks she continued on, "you didn't honestly think that after three hundred years you didn't have any descendents, did you?"

"I guess we never thought about it" Rowen admitted.

Kento still seemed to be in a state of shock, "I have kids?" he managed to squeak out.

Reika nodded, "Yep, two sons and a daughter. Your eldest son is one year older then me, your daughters my age, and your second son is three years old"

"What about us?" Sage asked, having recovered from the milk incident.

She seemed to think about the question, "I guess I could tell you, as long as I don't tell you who your future spouses are, the information won't affect the future at all"

"Okay, starting to my right and working my way around, Rowen, you have four kids, a son a year older then me, a daughter my age, and twins, boy and girl, they're six"

Rowen had grabbed the table to keep from falling out of his chair when Reika said he had four kids, had he **really** wanted to know that much about his future, not really. "Kento you already know so we won't have to go there, Cye you have three kids, a son a year older then me, a daughter my age, and a daughter who's only nine months old" Cye looked pleasantly surprised by that information. Sage, realizing he was next to Cye; he steeled himself for the worst. Reika noticed the wary look on his face and grinned. "Oh come on, it's not that bad, your son's a year older then me and you have a daughter my age" a look of relief replaced the wince, Sage had been prepared to hear that he had never settled down and was by himself in his old age. Though none of the others knew, that was one of the things that sometimes gave him nightmares.

"For future reference," Ryo cut in, "just how old are you anyway?"

"I'm fourteen" she replied promptly.

"What about Ryo?" Mia asked, her head cocked to one side. Something dark and secretive flashed though Reika's eyes, she replied in a flat tone.

"Two, only two like Sage one boy a year older than me and a girl my age"

"What do you mean?" Kento frowned, totally baffled. Reika looked down at her plate and began to push the food around half-heartedly. "I'm afraid I haven't been entirely truthful with you" she admitted. At the confused looks she received, the girl continued. "You see, we know the amulets are still in our time, we just can't find them"

"Why didn't you tell us?" Rowen asked, "for that matter, what does that have to do with what you told us before?" She started fiddling with the tablecloth. Then she looked up and smiled sheepishly. "Another half truth I'm afraid" she admitted, "you see, my real name is Reika Sanada" she stared at the floor. That fit of coughing returned again, only this time, Ryo was the one who began spraying milk all over. Sage began to pound his friend's back in earnest. "You…" Mia pointed at her, "you're Ryo's…"

"Yes, I am" she looked up at all of them.

"That's why you look so familiar!" Kento exclaimed, levelling a finger at her, "you even look like him!" It was true too. Though her eyes were a brighter blue color, they were the same size and shape, tiger-eyes. If her hair had been any shorter, it would have looked like his as well. They could have passed as twins. "And that's why you seem to know the Ronins of the future so well, what you meant when you said they were friends of your family" Mia put in.

"B-but why did you say that he had a girl your age instead of telling us it was you?" Cye asked. She looked like she was caught midway between rage and anguish. She balled her hands into fists and clenched her teeth. "Because I am a disgrace to my family" Skeptical eyebrows rose on five faces. Ryo was still a little too stunned to reply. Reika seemed to get control over her emotions, and took a deep breath. "Please try to understand what I am about to say. I was in the room where the amulets were kept at the time of their disappearance, I reached out to touch one and they just vanished before my eyes, I didn't know what to do but then I heard my Aunt Celena coming to check on the amulets. When she found them gone she was really scared that someone had taken them, when she searched the room looking to see if they had just fallen off the stand where they were kept but she found nothing, she went and told my father about it. He had all of us search everywhere for them but we found nothing" she looked like she was going to cry but she held the tears back, "so that's why I'm here not only to seek your help but try to find the amulets on my own cause they don't know I made them disappear"

"But why would the amulets just disappear like that just because you wanted to touch one?" Rowen wondered aloud.

"I don't know" Reika admitted, "I just know it's my fault and it's my job to find them again"

"You're sure they didn't just disappear and then reappear after you left the room?" Sage asked her, eye(s) narrowing.

"Yes, I went back to the room and checked but they weren't there" Reika replied sighing.

"Well I guess we can help you look for them instead of you doing it alone" Mia said casually.

"Yeah I bet our past amulets can help find them since they posses the same power" Kento said confidently.

"But why didn't you just tell us about it in the first place though?" Ryo asked, appearing to come out of that daze.

"I didn't want you to tell your future selves about it even though I had to tell them the truth anyway" she told them, "maybe I should have said something about the amulets, but I saw how you reacted when I told you who I was, and we need your help so badly that I didn't want to do anything that might make you refuse" her voice took a pleading tone, "you will still come with me, won't you?" A six-way glance was exchanged. "Of course we will" Rowen spoke up, "we gave our word, and we won't go back on it" His friends all nodded in agreement. A look of pure relief spread over Reika's face. "Thank you" she sighed. Then she stood and grabbed up her plate and glass, "I'll go put these in the sink" The Ronins blinked, "Well Ryo" Sage said, "you could have done worse"

"Oh be quiet" Ryo was about to start an argument with his blond friend, when a sudden screech from the kitchen startled them all.

"Reika!" everyone exclaimed.

A strange sight met their eyes upon reaching the kitchen. Reika was on her knees, her arms thrown around White Blaze's neck, Iya, Icoro, and Blue Fire just stood behind him and watched. How they had made it into the house unnoticed was a mystery to all. But then again, all four were mysterious creatures. All four of the tigers' eyes were wide in surprise, for they had missed all the introductions and had no idea who this strange girl was.

"Uh, Reika?" Cye asked.

"Oh!" she unwound her arms from around the thick white fur. "Sorry, but it has been awhile since I saw White Blaze, Iya, Icoro, or Blue Fire and it was just a surprise to see them again" she ruffled the fur on White Blaze's head and the other three came closer. White Blaze licked her hand apparently deciding that he liked the girl, Iya sniffed at Reika then started to purr which surprised the Ronins since she only purred around Celena, and Icoro just licked Reika's hand just as White Blaze had done and Blue Fire purred and licked Reika's hand.

**SSSSSSSSS**

An hour and a half later, all seven teens were gathered in the living room. The lights were off, and so was the TV, for a change; the only illumination in the room came from the fire Mia had lit in the fireplace. Cye and Kento were engaged in a quiet game of Jin around the coffee table with Icoro and Blue Fire on each side of the table watching them, and from the growls coming from Kento's direction, Cye was winning. Rowen was deeply immersed in a novel of some sort, figuring he probably wouldn't get a chance to read it again for a couple of days. Every thirty seconds or so, the soft rustle of a page turning broke the relative silence. Sage was sitting on the floor, leaning back against the couch. From the peaceful expression on his face, he was meditating again. That was a good thing, the more focused he was for the upcoming battle, the sooner they could get back to their own time. Ryo was sitting on the carpet as well, serving as his backrest was White Blaze. The fire's glow cast a tint of orange to the cat's fur, making him look more like a common tiger, instead of his normal white self. Mia was seated on a loveseat, stretching out the full length. She was watching Reika out of the corner of her eye. Reika was sitting Indian-style not five feet from the fire's flames with Iya curled up next to her, but Reika seemed to take no notice of the purple and silver colored tiger. The light danced across Reika's face in ever-changing patters. Mia wondered what she was thinking about. In fact, Reika was wondering whether or not it had been wise to tell the Ronins of the past of her true identity. She'd seen the look on Ryo's face, and knew that he'd probably be a little uptight around her from now on. Oh well, just wait until the others met their children. She allowed herself a slight smirk at the thought of their faces. Then her thoughts flickered to what she'd told them about the amulets. She hadn't been lying when she said she made them disappear, and she had! Mesmerized by intricate weave of the flames, her mind flashed back to a time barely a year before looking into a fire just like this one.

_flashback_

Reika's attention was broken from the heat of the campfire by a shriek from the other side of it. Sali, Uncle Cye's oldest daughter, had been crept up upon by Touma, Uncle Rowen's eldest son. She had been on edge all evening, ever since Uncle Anubis had told them those scary stories of his day under the service of Arago, they all had been, especially the littles. Touma had snuck up behind her and run his finger up her back. She whirled around and decked him upside the head.

"You idiot!" she squealed, as the blue haired teen jumped laughingly away, "you almost gave me a heart attack!"

"That's nothing new" he replied, "you're a chicken Sae"

"Come back here and say that to my face you little rat!" the flaming red haired girl shrieked at the top of her lungs, pelting after him.

"Get her Touma!" Shu, Uncle Kento's oldest child rooted his friend on, even as the boy ran circles around the campfire, fleeing from Sali's wrath. Chuckles came from all around the campfire, from every one except the little kids, who didn't really understand what was going on. The twins were roasting marshmallows nearby, huddling in the light of the fire, safe from imaginary bogeyman. The other two littles, Graham and Sonya, were curled up against White Blaze's heaving side snoring gently. All of Reika's uncles and aunts were situated around the flames as well, talking idly in low voices about unimportant things. Aunt Kayura had declared this weekend as a vacation from the pressure of life in the palace, and they'd all gone on this camping trip, every one had agreed that it had been a great idea. Another shriek, higher in pitch, but not as loud, echoed from two spots down, where the twins had been roasting marshmallows. Little Kina's had caught on fire and she was blowing on it frantically, but to no avail, the flame simply wouldn't go out. "Eeek!" she squealed, waving the blazing candy around helplessly, "Put it out! Somebody put it out!" Father had chuckled and reached over. His fingers had lightly brushed the mallow, and the flames flickered and died. Not only that, but instead of the charred husk they'd all anticipated, it had been perfectly roasted. "Whoa!" Reika had felt her eyes go wide, "how'd you do that Dad?" she asked incredulously. He'd smiled roguishly and winked. "It's a Ronin secret" he said in an easily overheard stage whisper, prompting chuckles from her uncles. "Someday you'll have the power to be able to do that to" Unspoken between them was the ferverent wish that she'd never have to. She'd heard stories of the battle against the Dynasty, and she dreaded the responsibility that came with that kind of power. Besides, she knew that if she ever did inherit the amulet from her father, it would mean that it would be her duty to protect it and learn how to use its power just like her father had to do. "The power to extinguish marshmallows in a single blow?" Uncle Cye suggested innocently, obviously fighting back a grin. Peals of laughter had erupted from everyone within hearing distance, including Touma, who was only just now creeping back from the surrounding darkness, one eye blackened and his hair full of leaves and twigs. "Ooh! Big bad Sali strikes again!" Shu managed to gasp between giggling fits. Sali strode back into the ring of light calm and composed. She seated herself regally and gave them all a condescending look, elicting even more giggles. There were more pyro comments, which both Reika and Ryo had blatantly ignored. Only when Touma called her hot stuff did she finally crack, laughing so hard her father had to hold her up.

"Rowen, am I gonna have to beat your son off with a stick or what?" Ryo glared balefully at his friend.

"I lost control of the kid a long time ago" Strata replied, shrugging innocently, but he ruffled his son's hair affectionately. "You'll have to protect Reika yourself Ryo, same with you Cye you'll have to protect Shin yourself"

"Of course we will" he hugged his daughter tight and Cye nodded in agreement, "always"

_end flashback_

'Always' Reika thought, her lips moving to mouth the word. Mia was surprised to notice a tear work its way out of Reika's eye and slide down her cheek. The stark illumination of the fire brutally picked up the glimmer of the tear track, and the shine in her eyes from even more tears unshed. Mia didn't like seeing the poor girl so unhappy, so she decided to break out of her self imposed trance. "Reika?" she asked, her voice causing not only the girl, but also all the guys to jump as the silence broke. "Y-yes?" Reika hurriedly wiped her eyes on her sleeve, embarrassed at having been caught so open.

"Tell us about the future" Mia requested.

"The…the future?" Reika stammered, caught off guard by the question.

"When did you develop a stutter?" Rowen teased gently from behind his book. Mia shot him a glare.

"Yes, you know, your world"

"Hmmm" her expression turned thoughtful, "I have to think about that, gotta decide what is safe to tell you"

"What do you mean by that?" Sage frowned.

"Well, if I tell you everything that's going to happen, you might respond differently, and change the future" she replied.

"You mean if something happened to, oh say, Kento for instance, his kids would never exist and the Armor of Hardrock would have gone to someone else entirely?" Cye wondered aloud.

"Hey!" Kento glared at his best friend, "since when do you want me to croak, huh fish-boy?"

"Cut it out you two, Cye's got a point" Rowen cut in, "if she told us about the outcome of a certain battle, then we might get overconfident, and then lose as a result, traveling through time's dangerous, if one tampers with the past, one could then alter one's own future"

"Thank you Einstein" Ryo rolled his eyes. A chuckle came from the door; everyone turned and saw Celena standing there with a grin on her face looking at them.

"What are you doing up, I thought you said you were going to sleep?" Kento asked.

"Well I was but, with all the yelling down here you woke me up" Celena replied.

"Sorry" Cye told her as she sat down next to him.

"Don't worry about it I am always woken up when Lee, Saphrita, and Kahlan are arguing about something in the morning" Celena said.

"So, go ahead and tell us whatever you think is safe" Mia prompted. Reika nodded and everyone leaned forward, eager to hear about the future of their world. "Well, a hundred years ago, mankind's mistakes finally caught up with them, and their technology became too advanced"

"Nuclear Armageddon, you mean" Rowen stated.

"Precisely" Reika nodded, "about a fifth of earth's population escaped to the stars, to colonies they'd set up in distant galaxies" Kento started whistling the theme to Star Wars and was immediately silenced as Cye snatched a pillow off the couch and slammed it into his friend's face. Celena stifled a laugh. "Go on" Mia urged her eyes wide in wonder. She'd always loved history, and in a way, that's what she was hearing. "Like I was saying, those left on earth were doomed to die, but using the power of all fourteen armors, the Ronins, the Mysticals, and Warlords were able to save about a tenth of the remaining people. Many died, but those who survived counted their blessings and set about creating a new world order. Many things had changed, making it possible to live lives without damaging the earth itself"

"Like what?" Sage asked. He was still leaning back against the couch, but the others had changed their positions. Cye, Kento, and Celena had lain down on their stomachs, propping their chins up on their hands. Rowen had set his book aside after marking his page, and had sat up so as to listen better. Ryo and Mia remained in their original positions. Reika had since turned around to face her audience.

"Um," the girl considered the things which were part of her life, things which she hadn't seen since coming to the past, "well, a lot of technology was abandoned, things like cars, airplanes, TV"

"There's no TV!" Kento yelped jerking upright, "how do you people live?"

"I didn't know what it was until I came here; you can't miss what you never knew" she shrugged it off, "the people decided that machines like cars and planes were far too dangerous to the now delicate echo-system, besides, there was no longer any use for them"

"What!" Sage frowned, "why is that?"

A small smile played across Reika's face, "Due to the amount of nuclear radiation the people were exposed to, they developed certain abilities" the hesitation before she said the final word was clear to them all.

"What do you mean by that?" Cye asked quietly.

"You've seen the powers that Lady Kayura has, because of her linage as an Ancient, she can move things with her mind, teleport from place to place, even speak into other's minds" she chuckled slightly, "I know that you also had those powers as well, those and so much more"

"You're saying that mankind now has the ability to do things our armors let us do?" Ryo gasped, "even control certain elements?"

Reika nodded, "Indeed, but not on such a great scale as your armors, human's lifespans were increased as well. Normal people who survived the holocaust have begun to live longer each generation. Some people are in their second century already, though no one has lived as long as the Ronins of my time"

"So what you're saying," Mia drawled slowly, "is that people have mystical powers now, and are near immortals?"

Again with the nod, "yep"

"So what's your ability?" Sage grinned wryly.

Reika flushed, "Ah well" she hesitated a little, "I don't know, really, because most powers don't manifest until later in life, currently, I've only got a few"

"Like what?" the grin became evil.

"Um, well, I'll just show you" she moved over to Sage and lightly touched his cheek before he could jerk away. His friend's watched in amazement as Sage's eyes clouded over and he seemed to stare into space foe a moment, it almost looked like he was meditating again. "What did you do?" Cye asked. His eyes bugging out at his friend's stupor.

"Don't worry, he'll be fine" she assured him, removing her hand and waiting far a moment. Sage's eyes cleared and he began to blink rapidly.

"Wh-what was that?" he gasped, eyes boring into Reika's.

"What did you see?" she grinned, waiting for a reply before she explained.

"I saw, well I think I saw, a palace, almost like Arago's. You know the traditional Japanese fairytale kind. Except that it wasn't as foreboding. There was a lake behind it, with a dock running down into it, and a stable, with the unicorns and other animals. There were several people running around the courtyard, but it was no one I recognized" he answered, looking more than a little confused.

"That's my talent; I can put images into people's minds. I can also take images out of minds. The only drawback is that I have to be in physical contact with that person in order to use my talent. What you saw is the palace we live in, my home"

"Hold it!" Kento halted her, "Palace?"

"Uh huh, my aunt said that our palace was created from when all fourteen kingdoms combined into one, it was the result when the royal princess of that time got married finally. I don't know who the princess was though my aunt said she died a long time ago. Kayura's been using the power of the staff to keep things under control, so the Ronins are sort of the unofficial rulers, not just over the people in the city, more like of the people who live under that sphere of influence which is the whole earth since the kingdoms came together"

"Wild" Mia commented. She cast a critical eye over the gathered teenage boys and girl. Celena caught her eyes. _I think we better not tell her about us, because of the way she's talking our future selves haven't told any of them the truth_ she said through the mind link. Mia nodded, "Why am I having trouble seeing these clowns handling any kind of responsibility?" she said, being careful not to say that Reika was talking about them now since they helped rule their own kingdoms.

"Their pretty bad at it actually, except for my Aunt Celena. Lady Kayura pretty much takes care of that stuff, she says she had plenty of practice after governing the Dynasty for an eon before the apocalypse, and she said Aunt Celena had some practice like that as well" Reika admitted, "Dad was really horrible at those politic decisions" realizing what she just said, she gasped and began to apologize. "I'm sorry Ryo, I didn't mean"

"No, that's okay" he raised a hand, "why don't we just pretend you never told us who you are, just so things don't get any stranger" he suggested.

"I think that's the best idea I've heard all day" Reika smiled in satisfaction. A thought occurred to Mia just then, "Reika who's your mother?" she asked. The black haired girl turned to stare at her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry, but I was just wondering, we were all so stunned to find out about Ryo that we forgot about your mother" A sly smile appeared on the girl's face, "You are actually" she said calmly. When she said that Rowen grabbed the table so he wouldn't fall off the couch, Sage hit his head against the wall, Kento fell onto the floor, Cye and Celena just looked at each other in complete shock, and Ryo and Mia looked at each other Mia just turned away blushing a deep red, and Ryo just stared at the floor.

"M-Mia is your mother!" Celena said as she came out of her state of shock, "but she's not immortal the Armor of Stars doesn't keep its bearer young so how can she still be alive?"

"Normal people don't have they ability to have an immortal life nor does the Stars armor keep its bearer young, your right about that but, from what my aunt tells me, when someone from the royal family of the past or one of the Ronins with an immortal life marries a normal person they gain an immortal life span as well, so when she married Ryo she gained the power to have an immortal life span so that's why she is still alive and is my mother" Reika added. Sage, whom was rubbing his head where he had hit the wall looked at Mia who was still blushing, "That was a very surprising answer to that question Mia" he said. Mia just nodded too embarrassed to look at him. Mia, still a little embarrassed at having asked that question, quickly spoke up, "I'm sorry Reika, but I'm afraid you'll have to sleep on the couch tonight" she said, "there was a cot in my room, but the last time Kayura and the Warlords visited Kento ended up smashing it upside Rajura's head"

The girl giggled, "What did he do?"

Kento looked slightly offended, "He said he could've easily beat me in battle now that he'd found the true soul of his armor, how could I let him get away with such an outright lie?"

"So you broke a cot over his head?" Reika was laughing so hard she'd fallen back to the ground, holding her ribs as she gasped for breath.

"It was either that or a vase, I sorta figured that would have ticked Mia off a lot more than the loss of a cot" he shrugged.

Mia laughed, "For once you actually used your head" she grinned and stood up, "I'll go get some spare blankets you guys head to bed, we've gotta get up early tomorrow"

Rowen looked wary, "Just how early are we talking here?" he asked cautiously.

"Oh I don't know eight-thirty?"

"Ack!" his eyes widened, "that's the middle of the night!"

The others exchanged long-suffering glances and Kento grabbed Rowen's leg, yanking him off the couch. "Ah quit your whining already, sheesh"

"Hold on guys whose going and who's staying?" Celena asked.

"We were thinking about leaving you and the others behind and us going" Ryo answered.

"What! Can't I go with you please?" she said.

"Celena we can't all go some have to stay here and protect this time if the Dynasty comes here" Rowen said calmly.

"Please, the others can handle just fine without me" Celena said. _Besides it would be best that I come if we need to explain some things to them_ Celena said through the link. The others looked at Reika for an answer. "It's okay with me if she comes" she said.

"But who is going to protect this time if you're gone?" Kento asked.

"Saphrita, Lee, and Kahlan" Celena replied, "and I'm leaving Iya, Icoro and Blue Fire behind to help them"

"WHAT! Celena you can't be serious" Iya said.

"I'm serious Iya like Ryo said we can't all go besides they could use you're help here more then I will" Celena told her.

"Oh all right I'll stay behind and look after things" Iya agreed.

"Thanks Iya" Celena said. Grinning, all six made their way upstairs to their rooms. Mia returned a few moments later laden down with two blankets and a pillow. "Here you go" she said, depositing the comforters in Reika's outstretched arms. "Make yourself comfy" Reika turned and spread one blanket out on the couch, then lay down and pulled the quilt over her shoulders. She snuggled into the pillow and closed her eyes with a sigh. Mia moved to douse the fire, but a small murmur from the couch stopped her. "Please leave it on Mia" Reika requested in a sleepy voice, "I like to watch the flames while I go to sleep"

"Um, I would, but I don't want to wake up only to find out that the house has burned down around me" Mia commented.

"It won't, I'll tell the fire not to" the voice seemed to be growing fainter.

"Oookaaay" Mia drawled, a little alarmed by the comment. 'But she is mine and Ryo's daughter, so I guess that claim makes sense,' she thought. As she climbed the stairs and made her way to her own room, Mia wondered if they were truly doing the right thing by traveling to the future. She only hoped that Lee, Saphrita, Kahlan, Cyoran, Kayura and the Warlords could handle whatever came up while the Ronins were gone.

**SSSSSSSSS**

Cye came awake to the sound of a thunderstorm in the next bed. The combination of Kento's snores and stomach was truly deafening. Groaning, he reluctantly climbed out of bed, even though all he really wanted to do was roll back over and get some more shut-eye. But breakfast had to be made before they left, and he was the best one for the job so he got dressed as quietly as he could and went out into the hallway. He ran into Mia and Celena in the hallway both fully dressed. They we're both yawning and rubbing sleep from their eyes as they made their way towards the stairs. "Ugh, g'morning" Mia mumbled sleepily, she had on her regular attire of clothes on and so did Celena.

"Sleep well you two?" Cye inquired, smothering a grin at the pair.

"As well as expected I guess" Mia answered seeming to be a little more awake.

"Are you going to make breakfast?" Celena asked.

"Do I have a choice?" he chuckled.

"I suppose not" Mia shook her head, picturing all the guys at the table.

"Want some help?" Came the offer.

"Sure thing" Cye replied. Treading as silently as possible, so as not to wake those still sleeping, (not that they had to worry about Rowen) the three friends made their way to the stairs. It was a good thing the stairs were carpeted, otherwise they probably would have creaked loudly. As it was, things were a little too quiet. Cye watched Mia out of the corner of his eye. "Mia? Is something wrong?" he asked. Mia turned to face him and Celena, leaning against the railing. She knew anything she said would be kept in complete confidence, after all his kanji was trust and she could tell Celena anything. "I'm just trying to figure out how the Dynasty could have returned, and why Reika's time. For that matter, why would she choose the Ronins of this time period? There must have been other periods of peace, after all" her brow was furrowed and she chewed anxiously at her lower lip as she searched for the elusive answers. Cye grabbed Mia's hand and gave it a squeeze. "Hey, don't worry about it. The only person with those answers is sleeping on the couch downstairs. Reika will tell us when she's ready; we'll cross the bridge when we come to it, okay?"

Mia smiled tiredly, "You're right. Come on, we'd better start cooking if we want to get out of here before noon" Upon reaching the ground floor, all three paused in the entrance to the living room. Reika was still out cold on the couch. She was laying on her stomach, left arm pillowing her head, right arm dangling over the edge. Her unruly hair had draped over her back, and obscured part of her face. Cye paused for a moment to lean against the frame of the door. "How could we miss the resemblance?" he asked no one in particular, "it was right there in front of us the whole time" Mia chuckled quietly. She noticed that the fire had died down to ashes, and, as Reika had promised, nothing was even remotely scorched. "All right, let her sleep, we have to get into the kitchen" Fifteen minutes later, the table was set, and the waffles were being cooked. The smell alerted both Ryo and Sage, who drifted downstairs, blinking groggily.

"Is that food?" Ryo mumbled, sniffing the air.

"Sure is come get it while it's hot" Celena smiled brightly.

"Is Kento up yet?" he asked.

"If he was, would there be any food left at all?" Sage pointed out logically. They both stopped and peeked in on Reika.

"Geez Ryo!" Sage whispered in surprise, "if I didn't know any better, I'd think you'd fallen asleep on the couch"

"Can we just eat already?" It didn't take long for the general chatter and noise in the kitchen to alert the remaining warriors. Surprisingly, Rowen stumbled down the stairs before Kento. Nobody made any smart cracks though, since Rowen was notoriously cranky early in the morning. "Well," Cye said, pitching his voice so it would carry up to the second floor, "Kento had better get down here soon, or he won't get any waffles!"

"**WAFFLES!**" someone from upstairs bellowed. The sound of hundreds of stampeding elephants reached their ears as the walking bottomless pit smelled food. The whole house seemed to shake as Kento ran down the stairs and screeched to a halt before the living room. "Ryo!" he shouted, "What are you doing down here? Don't you have your own room?" Those in the kitchen winced and Ryo leaned out the door, "I'm in here, now be quiet before you wake Reika"

"Too late" came a sleepy voice. Reika pushed back the quilt, stood, and stretched. "Did someone say waffles?"

"Are there any left?" Kento asked plaintively.

"Of course there are" Cye rolled his eyes, "I made enough for three Kento's, so there's still plenty left"

"All right!"

"Hey! Save me some!" Reika gasped, dashing into the kitchen before Kento, "your waffles are famous even in our time!" The stack of breakfast was diminished quickly, Sage snagged the last waffle and gulped it down before Kento could do as much as grunt in protest. "I just hope I've got enough energy left to pull this off" Reika muttered around a mouthful of food.

"Huh?" Sage blinked in surprise, "what do you mean?"

"Well, travelling back through time is extremely tiring; it takes a lot of energy. It took me the whole two weeks to find a period of time it was safe to take you from" she chuckled quietly, "I even showed up halfway through a battle between you and some Dynasty creep; the looks on your faces were priceless"

Mia smiled, "I can just see you popping in, saying 'oops, sorry' and popping out again" She blushed and decided it was time to change the subject, not to mention getting a move on.

"Ready to go?" she asked, standing.

"Um, I guess" Mia looked around at the gathered teens, they all appeared more or less awake, and presentable at least, Reika on the other hand, was a different story. The black haired girl caught the look Mia threw at her, "What? Is there waffle in my teeth or something?"

"No, I was just wondering when you last changed clothes" she answered. The other girl blushed and looked down self consciously back down at her wrinkled attire. It consisted of a pair of battered cut-offs, and a dirty gray T-shirt, both of which were worn and rumpled. "Uh, I'm not really sure, really. I washed them the day before yesterday, but they're the only pair I've got" she sounded embarrassed. "Come with me" Mia stood and extended a hand. Reika looked a little wary, but accepted. The two girls went up the stairs and the sound of closets banging open was heard. The guys all exchanged shrugs and settled back down to wait. No telling how long this was gonna take. "Ah hah!" came a triumphant shout, "all right guys, we can go now!" Mia called down the hall.

"About time!" Ryo yelled back.

"I found some old clothes of mine I outgrew last summer" Mia explained, gesturing towards Reika. The younger girl was wearing a red tank top and rather short cut-offs. She flushed at the raised eyebrows she received and shrugged. "Hey! I happen to like being able to dress like this" she said defensively, "I don't have to act like a lady" she made a face.

"Lady?" Mia giggled, "what did they make you wear?"

"Dresses, kimonos, just about anything uncomfortable, and you should see the stuff I have to wear during formal occasions" she rolled her eyes expansively, "but then again, I get off pretty easy since I'm usually training"

"We'll be able to see for ourselves, once we get there" Rowen said pointedly.

"Right, let's get this over with" Celena said.

"Wait a minute!" Mia raised her hands in objection, "**NOT** in my living room!"

"She's right, let's take this outside guys" Cye gestured to the door. Reika stood outside in the center of a circle formed from people. Next to her was Mia, and the Ronins had formed the Circle of Power around the two. She'd instructed them to do so, saying that if their armors were linked, it would be easier to get everyone to the armors of her time. "Any questions before we go?" she asked those assembled.

"Just one" Kento raised his hand.

"Yes?"

"Are those contacts, or what?" he squinted at her. Her eyes were far too bright a blue in his opinion.

"Huh? What are contacts?" Reika said confused.

"I guess not" he shrugged. Celena gave him a dark glare, and Cye elbowed him in the side then motioned for Reika to continue. She fumbled for the amulet around her neck, and pulled it out on a chain. Mia noticed that there was also a heart-shaped locket on the necklace as well, but didn't say anything at that point, as Reika seemed to be concentrating very hard. Reika clenched her fist around the winged-globe. She glowed a bright yellow in color. She took a deep breath and began to chant.

Oh ye who guards the Gate of Time,

Unlock the door and let us pass.

We from both the present and the future,

I bring these warriors from the past!

"**ARMORS!**" she cried, lifting her hand into the air, "**I NEED YOUR POWER!**" The kanji's of each Ronin and Mystics flared, and a column of roaring flames sprang up out of nowhere to engulf Reika. The others gasped in shock, but found they could not tear away from the circle. The flames spread out from the pillar and consumed all of them, the heat and light becoming blinding. The intense light was followed by deep blackness...

**TBC.**

**Author's note:** Okay guys that is it for now. Oh and sorry but I forgot this, I will put up one or several, I haven't decided yet, stories that explains Saphrita, Celena, Lee, and Kahlan with their backgrounds and origins of the mystics armor that they wear which my friends and I created. Also Reika and the children are all our own characters and any other characters that are not part of the original Ronin Warriors are our creation. Oh and we have two sets of Warlords the older warlords (American name version) and the young warlords (Japanese name version) you'll mostly see and hear about the young warlords though. So please click the little button below this note and review. I take both comments and complaints. Ja ne.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey I'm back, here is the second chapter

**Rating: **T

**Pairings:** You'll have to find out for yourself

**Disclaimer:** I only own the RW DVDs and my OCs, my friends own their OCs

**SSSSSSSSS **scene change

_italics_ telepathy

"yap yap yap" talk

'yap yap yap' thoughts

**Past**

**Meets**

**Future**

**Chapter 2**

Ryo groaned as he reluctantly opened his eyes. Watery light stabbed into his eyes, and he threw his left arm over his face. Then he remembered Reika, the guys, Mia, the flames, and, and, the future? He snapped his eyes open and sat bolt upright. "Ryo?" a weak voice called from over to his right, he turned over to look. "Who is it?" he frowned. Sage staggered into view, one hand pressed to his forehead, "You okay?" he asked. Ryo nodded and climbed to his feet, "I think so, have you seen the others?"

"Not yet, we'd better get going though"

"Do you think we made it to the future?" Ryo asked.

Sage shrugged, "Take a look around, you tell me" The warrior of Wildfire complied and took a long look at his surroundings. They appeared to be standing in the middle of a city. It was absolutely deserted, and reminded him strongly of Toyama after Talpa had first made his appearance, the buildings were empty and the sky was full of those ominous dirty-grey clouds. The only difference was that these buildings had obviously been empty for awhile, vines grew along the walls and several of the skyscrapers were dwarfed by enormous trees whose roots crept along the streets, puncturing the pavement. "Spooky" he commented.

"Yeah, I'd say Reika did it, we're in her time"

"Sheesh, no wonder she's so serious, look at this place"

"I'd rather look for the guys" Sage reminded him.

Ryo nodded and the two began to search for Mia, Celena, and the other Ronins. They assumed that Reika would know her way around well enough to find them instead of the other way around.

**SSSSSSSSS**

Halfway across town, Cye and Rowen had met in a similar manner. Both had been knocked unconscious by the trip through time, but fortunately they'd landed close to each other. "Man, this place is totally trashed!" Rowen commented.

Cye nodded in agreement, "We've got to find the others before something finds us! Or vice versa, for that matter"

"Right" Rowen stopped and considered something for a moment, "Hey, shouldn't our armors lead us to them? I mean, they do link, after all"

"Good point, it's worth a shot"

**SSSSSSSSS**

A mere subway trip away, Kento was wandering in what seemed to be circles. "I swear, I've already passed that doughnut shop three times!" he sighed in exasperation and took a seat on a crumbling bench. The wood groaned in protest at his weight, but held firm, "and it doesn't help that this place is totally spooky"

"There's got to be an easier way to find the guys" he thought aloud.

Slumping over in his seat, he tried to think. Rowen was the one who came up with the plans, not him. For that matter, he wouldn't have minded Mia or Celena being there either. The sound of rock shifting alerted him to a presence nearby. "Who's there?" he demanded, whirling to his feet, eyes shifting around.

"Kento?" a familiar voice asked.

He relaxed as soon as he recognized it. "Mia!" he grinned at the approaching girl, "I was wondering where you'd gotten to"

"Ditto" she smiled back and walked up to him, "do you know where the others are?"

"Not a clue, not one clue" he shook his head.

"Hmmm" Mia's eyes narrowed as she pondered a theory, "do you suppose our armors are close enough to link up, why not give it a try?"

**SSSSSSSSS**

Ryo and Sage both stopped in their tracks as they felt their armors react to something. Their kanji's began to glow, and each murmured the name. "Wisdom"

"Virtue"

The two friends exchanged a glance.

"The guys?" Ryo asked.

"It has to be, our armors are connecting. They've got to be close" Sage affirmed.

Both Ronins took off at a run in the direction of the pull they felt.

**SSSSSSSSS**

Rowen and Cye felt the connection as well, and began to move towards where they knew they would find their friends. "I wonder why the armors wouldn't do this the first time we were separated in Toyama." Cye frowned.

"I don't know" Rowen shrugged, "we're not even in our sub-armor and we can find each other, it could be that the longer we fight together, the easier it is for our armors to find each other"

They stopped discussing and concentrated on finding their way through the maze of crumbling buildings. The thud of their footsteps echoed eerily off the walls, making it sound like as though there were more than two people running around. "OOF!" Cye and Rowen both tumbled back to the pavement as they ran into what felt like a brick wall.

"Oh geez guys! I'm sorry!" Kento gasped, extending a hand to each of them.

"No problem" Rowen grunted as he was hauled back to his feet, "had any luck with finding Sage, Ryo, or Celena?"

"They're not with you?" Mia's worried voice came from behind Kento.

"No, sorry" Cye shook his head.

"Hey, if we can find each other, I bet they're all ready on their way here!" Kento suggested brightly, "it looks like our armors are drawing us to each other"

The sound of voices just ahead grabbed two of their remaining warrior's attention.

"Looks like we're a little late" Ryo grinned.

"Yeah, I bet everyone's there already" Sage replied.

"What about Reika though?" Ryo frowned, "our armors won't help us find her, will they?"

"I think she'll find us."

They rounded a corner and saw three other Ronins and Mia.

"Hey! Did we miss anything?" Sage called out.

"Sage! Ryo!" Cye waved back, "what took you so long?"

"You didn't run into any of those bucket-heads, did ya?" Kento asked.

"No, nothing like that, we just landed a little farther away then you guys"

"This time travelling stuff is pretty iffy, doncha think?" Ryo chuckled.

"Speaking of which, where's Reika and Celena anyway?" Mia leaned over to look behind Sage and Ryo, as if expecting to find them there.

"We don't know, we thought they'd be with you"

"Man" Rowen shook his head, "no such luck"

"Well, if our armor could lead us to each other, it should be able to find Celena at least and maybe Reika's with her" Ryo reminded them.

"Cye, why don't you give it a try, after all you should be able to pick up Celena's armor, it should link up easily" Sage suggested.

"I'll try" Cye hesitated, but then began to concentrate.

For a moment, it seemed as if hazy outlines of his armor could be seen, flickering around him. The sky-blue glow intensified and a frown flickered across his face for a moment. Then his eyes snapped open, and the illusion of his armor faded. "I've found her, or a least her armor" Cye informed them, "she's over that way" He motioned to their left, and the group of teens set off through the streets.

**SSSSSSSSS**

Reika moaned softly and stirred in her sleep. "Don't worry White Blaze she'll wake up soon" Celena reassured him. White Blaze hunkered down beside Reika, he prepared to wait until such time as Ryo and the others found them, and he knew they would. He curled up next to the girls to keep them warm. Celena was awake but Reika had hit her head on some rubble when they landed, and had been out cold since, he and Celena had awakened. White Blaze jerked his head up in surprise; he'd caught the tail end of Reika's story, and now knew that she was indeed to inherit one of the future amulets when they found them. The tiger nuzzled at the girl's neck with his nose. He'd been told it was cold, and usually an unpleasant surprise for sleeping humans, and now he had proof. Reika's eyes slowly opened and she groaned as she sat up. "White Blaze, Celena?" she mumbled looking at them, "are you two okay?"

"Yes we're both okay Reika" Celena replied.

White Blaze rumbled in answer, nudging Reika's hand. She smiled wearily, her whole body shaking. "I guess time travelling had really been taking its toll on me, huh?"

The tiger butted her with his head, "Come on, get up so at least you'll stop shaking" he said.

"I'm working on it" she swatted him lightly and began to climb to her hands and still shaky knees with Celena's help.

"Reika, Celena!" someone shouted. They turned to see the others approaching them.

"Guys! We were afraid you'd gotten lost in the time stream or something" Reika called back, getting to her feet.

"No way, we're not that easy to get rid of!" Kento scoffed.

"No," she grinned, "I guess not."

Rowen took a look around at the demolished city and shuddered, "So this is your future?" he asked skeptically.

Reika smiled fondly at the wreckage; "Yeah, I'm finally home."

The relief in her voice was quite obvious. But then her face fell, "It wasn't this bad before though, you've got to believe me" she turned pleading eyes on them, "there were so many people here before, the place was so alive, and I just want to see it that way again"

"Come on Reika" Cye said, "take us to the palace, we'll meet up with our future selves, come up with a plan, and defeat the Dynasty. It'll be that simple"

She smiled at him, "I hope you're right" she said.

The eight teens set off through the deserted city with Reika in the lead. She knew her way around better that the others, and began leading them through a warren of alleyways which she insisted were shortcuts. "Uh, are you sure you know where we are?" Ryo asked, sounding less than convinced.

"Sure I'm sure" Reika nodded, "I've used these passages a lot when sneaking out of the palace"

"Sneaking out huh?" Kento grinned.

"Uh, forget I said th…" her voice stopped as they rounded another corner and a scene of mass carnage met their eyes.

"Oh. My. God." Both Mia and Celena gasped.

Piled twenty feet high in front of them was a heap of bodies, people. Their faces were twisted in pain and suffering and their eyes were wide in terror and agony. Mouths were open wide in silent screams. Blood trickled down the grisly tower, staining the pavement crimson. The Ronins realized that they were ankle deep in the liquid. Mia let out a squeak of terror and leapt onto White Blaze's back, trying to get out of the mess. "No" Reika whispered in horror, "this wasn't here when I left, what happened?" She couldn't help but take a step closer to the bodies.

Rowen grabbed her shoulder to stop her, "Reika, don't, don't go any closer near it"

She whirled around sobbing frantically. "This was a warning" she choked out, "that could have been my friends, they're warning me, I just know it. I've got to get home!" her voice rose hysterically. She pulled away and took off down another alley. "NO!" Ryo cried, "Reika, get back here!"

"Darn" Sage grated, "she's lost it, we've got to follow her"

The others nodded in agreement and ran after the fleeing girl.

**SSSSSSSSS**

Reika ran up the path that would take her to the palace. She could see the massive structure of her home looming before her, familiar and comforting. But for some reason, she couldn't banish the image of all those poor people. There had been infants in that pile for heaven's sake! She just kept seeing it, over and over, but instead of all those strangers, they were her family, her loved ones. If the Dynasty had been seeking to intimidate her, they'd done a great job of it. She slowed to a walk and headed up the road. The buildings had vanished now, behind her, the palace was in its own clearing. The steel of the entrance seemed extremely pale and worn. She took a step through, and cried out in surprise when she was slammed backwards by some unseen force. Lightning forked down from those creepy clouds and slammed into the ground barely three feet away. Greasy looking red smoke oozed out of the ground, solidifying into half a dozen soldiers. "This is Dynasty territory" one of them said in voice that sounded as if it hadn't been used in a few eons. It levelled a finger at her, "since you have trespassed, you will now become a servant to the Evil Dynasty"

"Dream on creep" Reika muttered, taking a fighting stance.

One of the soldiers drove its spear at her. She dodged to the side, grabbed the staff and yanked the weapon from her enemy's grip. Whirling it around, she skewered the walking tin can through the middle, taking a step back as its essence, greasy, foul smelling red smoke escaped to the sky. "You're not taking me alive!" she cried, bringing the spear up to block the downward swing of another. Reika wrenched it to the side, twisting her own weapon so the end of the spear knocked the helmet (and thus the head) off her opponent. She was just turning around to engage another enemy when a staff, swung like a baseball bat, collided with the back of her knees. She pitched forward, catching herself, but dropping her spear in the process. She was just raising her head when she saw the sword swinging down to chop through the back of her neck. Or at least that's how if would have gone, had a white blur shot out from behind her, slamming into the soldier's chest. The spirit's eyes widened in surprise as White Blaze tore through the chest plate of his armor, letting his soul escape. "White Blaze?" Reika gasped.

The tiger growled, "Yes it's me, now pick up your weapon over there and help me out" he said.

She nodded grimly and between them they finished off the remaining three warriors. The Ronins came running up behind the girl and the tiger. Reika's shoulders were heaving and the spear clattered to the ground as she lost her grip. "Man, I guess I was weaker than I thought" she mumbled falling to her knees. Mia knelt down beside her, supporting her. "Are you alright Reika?" she asked.

"Yeah they came out of nowhere literally"

"They've got control of the palace then?" Rowen frowned.

"NO!" Reika shook her head, "I can tell see?" she gestured towards the castle.

There was a break in the clouds above it, a shaft of weak sunlight shone over the lake in the back. "If the Dynasty had gotten control, that wouldn't be there"

"She's right" Sage nodded, "we've got to get over there"

"I think that we should be able to" Ryo said, "think about it, those soldiers were guarding the gate to keep Reika from getting back inside, but now they're gone, it should be open again"

"Ryo's right" Kento nodded, "let's get in there, this place is just too creepy"

"Thank you so much for that observation." Reika rolled her eyes, getting back to her feet, "you're right though, if we don't get in there now, the Dynasty will have won this fight"

"Well then" Cye motioned through the gate, "let's go"

As Ryo had expected there was no more interference as they made their way through the gate and across the courtyard. The atmosphere was noticeably less chilly there, even though there seemed to be an absence of people. "Where is everybody?" Celena wondered aloud.

"I bet I know" Reika grinned and sped up her walk, "c'mon let's go inside"

She showed them in through a small door in the side-wall by the stables, rather than through the ostentatious double doors that obviously led to the throne room. That was a little too obvious, and they were trying to avoid detection. They headed down a rather dark hallway, and around several turns. "Uh Reika" Cye began.

"Before you ask, yes, I do know where I'm going. I've lived here my whole life, remember?"

He was about to answer when an echo of voices reached their ears. All eight teens ducked around a corner and lay in wait to see who it was. "I can't believe you want to make a kitchen run at a time like this" one voice groused, it sounded oh-so familiar too "don't you realize it's been over two weeks since Reika left?"

Another voice sighed, "Can I help it if I get hungry when I'm worried" it snapped.

The first voice sounded apologetic, "Sorry, I know you're upset too, but she's been gone so long"

"No kidding, Ryo would have had our hides if we sent her without his knowing, what if something happened, or what if …"

"Don't even think about that, she's coming back, you can bet on it"

"If you did, you'd have won" Reika grinned stepping around the corner to confront the owners of the voices.

"REIKA!" they both gasped eyes going wide.

The Ronins of the past stayed in the shadows. "Is it really you?" the first one asked. He had auburn hair, and bright emerald eyes. Sitting on the floor next to him was a light blue tiger with silver stripes and green eyes as well, obviously Icoro's future self, he just looked at his master and started to purr loudly saying that it was her. "Of course it is Cye!" the second laughed, swooping Reika up into a bear-hug, "haven't you ever seen anyone as pretty as Reika in you whole life?" he sounded really elated to see her. He had ash black hair and dark blue eyes. Both of them, like Rika had said, showed the youthful features of when they were 22 though they were much older. Reika giggled and returned the hug, "I missed you Uncle Kento, Uncle Cye" she said, the tiger growled, as if saying what's this you don't even say that you missed me too just them, _well_. Reika saw the tiger's look and realized that she didn't say anything to him "Oh sorry, I missed you too Icoro" she said giving the tiger a hug, he accepted he apology and licked her face. Kento and Cye, who were still in hiding, felt their eyes go wide. The others all stared at them in surprise. "I can't believe you actually made it back!" the older-Kento told Reika.

"Yes, we thought something happened to you" Icoro said quietly.

She just shrugged and turned back to the hallway where the others were. "I didn't just make it back; I brought some people with me I think you'd like to meet"

Taking that as their cue, the Ronins stepped from around the corner. The elder versions of Kento and Cye both stared in astonishment. "Reika, I can't believe it, you did it" the future Cye said placing a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Isn't that the truth" Kento grumbled. Then he took a step forward and regarded his younger self, "this is just strange" he commented.

"You're telling me" his counterpart replied, stunned at being faced with himself.

Mia giggled, "Well Kento, Cye, you both aged quite well" she said.

Cye took his hand off Reika's shoulder and stared at Mia, "Y-you brought your mother's past self too?" he asked quietly.

"I didn't think anyone would mind" Reika looked a little surprised at his reaction.

"Oh, we don't" he apologized to Mia, "just wait till your mother finds out you brought her past self"

He and Kento exchanged a glance thinking of the look on the future Mia's face. "Thank you all for coming" Cye continued, "we'd like to help you get rid of the Dynasty trash again when we can, but he thinks we're getting to old" he said pointing a Kento.

"Hey, that is not funny, and I didn't say that" Kento said ruefully but then he smiled, "but I can't wait to see Mia's face when she sees this she'll probably flip, right Cye!" he said hitting Cye on the back really hard, his friend winced. Cye glared at him, his emerald eyes going to a darker shade. "Oops, I did it again" Kento said with a guilty look on his face.

"How many times have I told you not to slap me, geeze Ryo was right you do have a short memory span sometimes" Cye said trying to keep his voice calm.

Reika looked concerned, "Are you heeling alright?" she asked.

He sighed, "From what Sage tells me I am, don't worry about it, I'll be fine" he said reassuringly.

"Anyhow, I bet Rowen and Sage'll flip when they find out that your back" Kento said to Reika, "why don't you go find them?"

Reika broke into a smile, "Great idea!" she grinned, but then sobered, "any idea where they'll be?"

Cye just rolled his eyes, "Where else? The library"

"Yeah, Rowen practically lives there, and Sage is usually with him, and Lady Saphy should be with them too" Kento informed them.

"Duh" Reika smacked her forehead with the palm of her hand, "I should've known"

"Lady Saphy?" Sage wondered.

"You'll see" Cye grinned, seeing that they forgot Saphrita's nickname, "but the library is the most logical place"

The younger Kento snickered and elbowed Rowen in the ribs, "Some things never change, eh buddy?"

"Oh be quiet, will ya?" the blue haired warrior gave Kento a death glare and then proceeded to act as if Hardrock didn't even exist. Amid the general laughter, Reika tuned to her uncles and Icoro, "Will you come with us?" she asked. Kento's stomach rumbled ominously, "Um, I think we'll see you over dinner" he replied, "unless you happen to have a sandwich stashed in there somewhere?" he raised an eyebrow at her twentieth century clothes.

"Fraid not" she replied.

"If she did" the other Kento grinned, "I would have eaten it already"

"You're absolutely impossible!" Both Cye's exclaimed, with identical looks of frustration on their faces.

Sage shuddered, "Geez, this is like some weird sci-fi movie"

Ryo nodded, "The Clones or something" he said.

"Come on, let's head for the library!" Reika prompted them.

Exchanging a significant glance, the Warriors from the past did as she suggested. As they walked down the maze-like hallways of the palace, the guys noticed a change in Reika. She seemed so much more cheerful. She looked as if she was about to take off down the passage and leave them all in her haste to see her friends. In fact, it was that same anxiety that created the accident. Reika had been humming something under her breath as she turned the corner, there was a crashing sound, of metal on stone, and the others rushed around to see the girl sprawled on the floor, a young boy next to her. "I apologize!" the boy said backing away as he tried to gather up the tray and its burden, several dirty dishes.

"S'okay" Reika shook her head like she was dizzy and began to help him pick up the plates.

"Are you two alright?" Celena asked, kneeling down beside them.

"Yes miss, I'm fine" the boy replied.

He looked up as Reika passed him a handful of silverware, and promptly dropped it all with a metallic clang as he saw her face. "L-lady Reika!" he gasped, "I did not know you had returned!"

"Actually, I only now got back" she admitted, scooping the forks, spoons, and knives up.

"A-and they…" his eyes became the size of baseballs as he caught sight of the Ronins.

"Correct!" she grinned brightly, "I brought the Ronins of the past with me"

He couldn't have looked more surprised if she'd told him the world was about to end. "I-I'd better go" he stammered, hurrying away.

"Darn" Reika muttered under her breath.

"What's wrong?" Cye asked her.

"I didn't want the people who work here to know I'm back, or that you're with me, it'll be all over the palace be dinner time" she sighed.

"Who would know?" Rowen frowned, "for that matter, why do you care?"

"Where do you think all the refugees from the city are staying?" she said rhetorically, "obviously they're here, and as for why I don't want them to know I'm back, well, never mind"

They continued down the hallways. Sage frowned and spoke up. "Why is it so dark in here?" he asked.

Reika shrugged, "This place is so big we usually don't go to the effort of lighting it all, usually the sun does it for us, see?" she gestured to the windows which were set high into the walls. Had the sky not been so overcast, the palace would have been very well lit indeed. "We're almost to the library, I just hope that I don't run into anyone…" she was cut off because as she rounded another corner she ran into someone, who was carrying a lot of books. The others saw it was a different boy this time; he looked about Reika's age, maybe a year older, and the books he was carrying were all over the place. "Sorry about that" the boy said as he picked up the books.

"That's okay" Reika said looking at him but his back was turned, she noticed that he had long auburn hair that went to the middle of his back, it was tied at his neck with a sky-blue band, she couldn't see his face but she recognized his voice. He turned to put another book on the stack only then did she see his face only for a brief moment though. "Caran?" she asked him.

He looked up, "Hello Reika" he replied helping her up.

"What are you doing here and when did you get here?" she asked him.

"Whoa one thing at a time" Caran said, "My dad wanted to come here since we haven't been here for awhile and we just got here a few days ago, and from the looks of you I'd say that you just got back here"

"How did you know that?" Reika said.

"My cousin told me." Caran replied as he picked up the books and headed down the hall.

"Do you need any help" Reika called to him.

"No I'm okay, just watch it Reika my brother's here to, you know how he is around you" Caran said before disappearing around the corner.

"Who was that?" Kento asked, "is he one of our sons?"

"His name is Caran" Reika replied, "and he is not one of your sons"

"Whose is he then?" Celena asked.

"Well if he's not Cye's son then he's…?" Reika asked them.

"Let me guess he is my brother Cyoran's son isn't he." Cye said.

"Yes he is." Reika said as she continued down the hallway to the library. She led them to a set of huge double doors, at least fifteen feet high. "The library's through here" she explained, gesturing at the entranceway. "After Armageddon, Uncle Rowen made it his own personal quest to salvage as many books as possible, if there's a single copy of anything left, you'll find it in here, as well as prints of anything written since" Rowen looked as if he was about to tear down the doors. Reika smothered a grin and pushed lightly on them. They swung open easily on the silent hinges. "Whoa, I would have thought they'd be heavier than that" Sage commented.

"The hinges are rigged" she explained, "it's got something to do with weights and pulleys I think"

The eight young people strode into a huge room. Dozens of book-shelves stretched all the way up to the vaulted ceiling, at least thirty feet above their heads. Thousands of books were crammed into the shelves, no one was sure if there was some kind of order to them or not. "They should be somewhere around the center" Reika mused, leading them through the veritable maze of books. Celena and Ryo, realizing that Rowen was missing, spent ten minutes tracking through the place searching for their blue-haired friend. "Rowen, you can look around after we get through this, okay?" Celena compromised.

"Okay" he replied, sounding somewhat glum.

"This way" Reika beckoned them.

**SSSSSSSSS**

A soft glow from lamplight seemed to be just ahead; they rounded another corner to a rather surprising sight. Seated in several comfortable looking chairs were four people, two men and two women, like the other future selves, they showed the youthful features of when they were 22. One of the men had blue hair and bright dark blue eyes. He was flipping through a book at an amazing pace. The other man had golden blonde hair and pale blue eyes he was also looking at a book. One woman had floor length sapphire blue hair, which looked as if it had been separated into three braids then braided into one, and she had bright violet eyes. She wore a mint green dress and was seated with both legs crossed gracefully. The other women had long jet black hair that was tied up in two pigtails, the hair hanging down from them reached the floor, and she had sapphire blue eyes. She wore a dark blue dress and was seated two seats down from the other women; she was looking at a book and had on reading glasses. Reika cleared her throat softly; alarming the quartet of readers, "Am I interrupting anything?" she asked tilting her head to one side.

"Rei?" the man with blue hair gasped, setting aside his book, "is that you, you've made it back?"

She smiled and leaned against one of the shelves, "Sure I did, I told ya I would, didn't I?"

The blonde man pulled her into a hug, "You did at that" he admitted, "but I think we'd all given up hope"

She grinned and stuck out her tongue, "You should listen to Uncle Cye and trust me a little more Uncle Sage"

"I think I should have seen that one coming" the younger Sage murmured.

"What?" the man who was obviously Rowen's elder self (how many guys with blue hair can there be?) whirled to stare at the Ronins, "You! I mean, us, I mean, oh whatever!"

"Yep" Reika nodded, stepping back with the others, "I brought them with me"

Both women stepped forward, casting inquisitive glances at the group of teens. They broke into sunny smiles. "It was good of you to come, we really are in desperate need at the moment" said the one with sapphire blue hair her voice was soft and warm.

"Yes it was" the other women said standing next to the future Rowen, she removed her reading glasses so she wouldn't look weird in front of the past Ronins though the future ones said she looked fine if it was to help her eyes but she took them off anyway. "Who are you two?" Ryo frowned. The women grinned at him. "We sorta figured that you wouldn't recognize us" the sapphire haired women said the other nodded in agreement, "and you don't have our past selves with you to give you a hint" Ryo wasn't sure what she was talking about at all. At Ryo's blank look Celena laughed. "What's so funny?" Ryo asked her.

"It's just that I'm surprised that you don't recognize them" Celena replied, "who do we know in the past that has sapphire hair and black hair besides you?" The sapphire haired woman slipped her arm around the waist of the older blonde man (obviously Sage) and kissed him, she smiled at Celena knowing that she recognized them. She sighed at the others, "Well if you must know, I'm Lady Saphrita Date."

"And I'm Lady Leechiana Hashiba" the black haired woman said.

Sage and Rowen looked as it their eyes were about to pop out of their heads. Reika and Celena had to cover their mouths in an effort to hide their grins; the others didn't even bother with that. "Their **WIFES!**" they all shouted in unison, promptly breaking down into bouts of laughter. Tears were streaming down Kento's face; all he could do was hold onto his ribs and shake a finger at Sage and Rowen, whose faces were glowing like light bulbs. "To use your own words Sage, you both could have done worse" Ryo managed to say.

"That's not very polite." Mia giggled.

"Mia!" both of the future Ronins gasped.

"Oh boy just wait till your mother finds out about this Reika she's going to flip" Rowen said.

"Flip about what Rowen?" said a voice from behind him.

Rowen looked as if he jumped three feet into the air. He whirled around to face the voice. "How many times have I told you not to sneak up on me like that?" he said.

"I don't know a hundred maybe?" said the voice, as its owner came into the light. There stood a woman. She had long light brown hair, and blue eyes. She wore a bright red dress. Reika recognized her in a second, "Mother!" she said as she hugged the woman.

"Hello Reika, its good to see you finally came home" Lady Mia said. Lady Saphrita and Lady Leechiana nodded in agreement.

"Anyhow" the future Rowen began, "thank you and welcome to the future"

Getting out of their state of shock from seeing Mia's future self, the others tried to appear serious. Reika spoke up again, "Uncle Rowen do you know where the guys are? I think the Ronins would like to meet them"

A mischievous smile appeared over both Sage and Rowen's faces, "Undoubtedly in the training area, I'm sure they'll be thrilled to see you" he said.

That smile appeared on her face as well, "I'm sure you're right" was all she would say.

"Where's the training area?" Kento asked.

"Across the courtyard." Lady Saphrita replied.

"Oh no, not out there again," he sighed, "it's creepy out there."

Rowen cast a plainly longing look at the thousands of books surrounding him. Cye grabbed him and towed him out after the others. "Like we said, you can come back later" he said firmly. The air seemed too hung still outside, leaving a feeling of gloom and depression. "Never did like those clouds" Rowen murmured. A snort of amusement came from Sage's general direction. In an effort to break the ominous feeling inspired by the dirty-grey sky, Kento struck up a conversation with Reika. "So who are these guys you mentioned?" he asked.

A slight smile played over her features, "They're your eldest sons and daughters" she explained, "we've trained together since we were little kids, they're my best friends" a slightly reminiscent look spread over her face, "I never realized how much I'd miss them, their great guys"

"Nice to know we've got good kids" Cye put in.

A shrill cry broke the silence, "REIKA!" it screamed. Reika winced visibly and slowly turned around to face the palace. A graceful figure clad in green and brown (forest colors) and a brown cloak made its way toward the group. A moment later it was possible to make out a boy. He had short auburn hair, soft tendrils framing his delicately featured face with alabaster skin. He was amazingly graceful, for a boy, brown booted feet making no sound on the cobbles. Large dark green eyes narrowed in anger at the girl. All his handsome features could not mask that he had an ugly personality. "So" he sneered, folding his arms over his chest, "you actually had the gall to show your face here again, you disgrace"

"Sorry to disappoint you Ralon" Reika replied coldly, "but I don't die that easily"

"Ugh" the auburn haired boy threw his arms up in the air in disgust, "Why couldn't you just have gone back to the past and stayed there the way everyone expected you to?"

Reika's face went blank. Mia could tell she was fighting the legendary Wildfire temper, attempting to keep from hitting the boy. She balled her hands at her side. "At least I was out there doing something instead of sitting on my butt absolutely useless" she hissed. Ralon's eyes flared up in rage. Quick as a thought, he dealt Reika with a slap on the cheek, leaving a red mark on her face. He pulled his hand to follow through with another, but a hand reached out and caught his wrist. Ralon turned and saw Caran holding his wrist back, his eyes were cold and they didn't have the warmth they had in them before. "Careful Ralon" he cautioned, "you wouldn't want to disgrace yourself in front of the Ronin Warriors, now would you?" Ralon shook his arm to get his brother's hand off it didn't work Caran's grip was hard, then he did it harder and knocked Caran to the ground, "Leave me alone Caran I'll do what I want"

"You will not Ralon!" a voice stated.

He turned and saw four girls heading toward him one running, the others saw them too. His eyes flashed again, and he turned on his heel in a huff, only to disappear into thin air! "W-where'd he go?" Kento blinked.

"That's Ralon's talent" Reika replied tonelessly, "teleportation"

"What a brat!" Ryo commented, "who is he anyway?"

"He's my brother" Caran replied, getting up from where he fell.

The girls who had been coming toward them stopped in front of them. "You alright Caran, Reika?" one girl asked, she had red hair like a flame tied in a ponytail with a ribbon tied onto the holder, and bright emerald green eyes, she had on a purple shirt, white caprees, and purple boots with white laces. "Yeah, we're fine Sali." Reika replied. The other girls where dressed like the first one was though they were different colors. One had long sapphire hair that came to her knees (in a style like Saphrita's), violet eyes, and she had on a dark blue shirt, purple caprees, and dark blue boots with purple laces; one had black hair in two pigtails that looked like rabbit ears, sapphire eyes, and she had on a black shirt, white caprees, and black boots with white laces; and the last girl had waist length dark brown hair, green eyes, and she had on a pink shirt, yellow caprees, and pink boots with yellow laces. "Should we go after him Sali?" the black haired girl asked.

"No that won't be necessary Leeanna" Sali replied.

"It's good to have you back Reika." Sali said turning to face her.

"Ralon's been giving you a lot of trouble I see." she said.

"Yeah, he's been a real pain." the brown haired girl said.

"Just what kind of trouble has he been causing Nadeshiko?" Reika asked her.

Nadeshiko didn't answer so the last girl did, "Well he's been getting us into trouble by knocking things over, and like just yesterday he spilled ink all over my tiger Blaze" she said, "he said it was to make her coat turn black saying that tigers shouldn't be blue at all it made them look like freaks"

"Sakura's right, he also spilled it on my tiger Iyanna too, I've gotten it all out but I'm still mad at him for doing it and he didn't get into trouble for it we did" Sali said coldly, "but his dad didn't believe him, he found out that Ralon did it and punished him instead of us"

"Yeah, but Ralon found out he got so mad about it to" Leeanna explained.

"Ralon went to find Sali and the others but he didn't 'cause I wouldn't let him" Caran said, "and if he doesn't find his intended victim he takes his anger out on me"

"Yeah, he found Caran and Ralon literally broke his arm, but father healed it and Ralon got in trouble again, he's been shut up in his room since" Sakura finished.

"Oh man he is a brat, big time" Sage muttered, utterly disgusted at what a spoiled brat the boy had turned out to be.

"We better get to the palace mother's expecting us to help with dinner" Sali said, "we'll see you later Rei" she called as the girls and Caran ran towards the palace.

"Who were they?" Rowen asked.

"They're your daughters" Reika replied.

"Any more unpleasant surprises?" Celena raised an eyebrow at the space Ralon had occupied a moment before.

"Nah, everybody else is fine, the littles tend to throw the occasional tantrum, but that's only natural"

"Littles?" Mia asked.

"Yeah, the little kids" her eyes grew thoughtful, "hmm, if Ralon knew that I had come back than the children…"

"REIKA!" this time the voice was shouted by a high-pitched childish voice.

"Huh?" they all turned.

"Now what?" Ryo muttered.

Four blurs appeared to be shooting at them, screeching to a halt before the teens. The blurs were revealed to be four young tigers, one was white with black stripes, one was blue with black stripes, one was light blue with silver stripes, and the last one was a purple, lavender, and violet mix with silver stripes, all of them had blue eyes. Perched on the white one's back were two children, both with blue hair of varying shades. "Kira, Tannin, Orion, Blaze, Ice, Iyanna!" Reika said as she dropped to her knees and threw her arms around the white tiger's neck, hugging him close while the other ones licked her face. White Blaze looked in puzzlement as the other tiger's their smells seemed so familiar somehow. The two children slipped off of the huge cat's back. Reika unwound her arms from around the tiger's neck, only to be caught up by the kids. The little girl had wrapped her arms around Reika's waist and clung there, while the little boy was glued to her neck. "You scared me!" the boy wailed, "I thought you'd gone away forever, like Uncle Cye almost did!"

"Yeah" the little girl sniffed, "why'd you have to go anyway? S'not fair"

Chuckling, Reika gently pried them off and got to her feet. She turned to the Ronins, who were by this point completely mystified. "Guys" she began, "I'd like you to meet Kira and Tannin, the twins I mentioned your youngest Rowen" she laid a hand on both blue heads. Rowen looked down at the little kids, barely hip high on the older girl. They had such sweet angelic faces. He felt a funny little lurch in his heart, those kids had a claim on him, he could feel it. The little girl giggled and blushed shyly. Her hair was a deep midnight blue (almost black), and fell in soft curls to her shoulders. Her sapphire eyes sparkled brightly. "I'm Kira" she whispered. The little boy grinned rakishly. He looked like his sister, only his hair was much shorter, and a slightly lighter blue in color. Instead of that one annoying lock which always dangled between Rowen's eyes, the child's were obscured behind a veritable curtain of bangs. What little could be seen of them showed that he had his father's clear blue eyes. "And I'm Tannin!" he said proudly. He ducked out from Reika's hand and snatched her wrist. "Reika's my f-f-, what's that word again?" he turned to her.

"Fiancée" she knelt down and hugged the little boy light, "we're betrothed"

"WHAT!" Ryo felt his jaw drop.

Reika winked up at them, "You heard me"

Then she mouthed, it's a game we play, reassured Ryo let out the breath he'd been holding. Sage was desperately attempting to hold back a terrible fit of chuckles. The look on Rowen's face was absolutely priceless. Finding out about the twins had to have shocked him, now he knew how he'd felt when Sakura had made her appearance. Sage shuddered a little remembering Ralon, and he looked over a Cye who shared a look with him and they started coming up with ways to deal with him if that ever became their reality. Kento chuckled quietly as he watched Sage. He could tell the blonde warrior was choking back laughs at Rowen's predicament. This was strange; no doubt about it, facing your future self was awfully unnerving. He was sort of looking forward to meeting his son in a few minutes. "Hmm," Reika looked up from Tannin and gave both him and his twin sister a stern glare, "wait a second," she said, "where's Graham?" The twins began to fidget, "Uh, well, he's" They were cut off from a shriek behind them. A small figure could be seen running towards the group. About five feet away, the short, sturdy little boy tripped and fell flat on his face. He got back to his feet with a wail. "You guys always leave me behind!" he sniffed, tears dripping down chubby cheeks as he inspected a scraped knee. "Lookit this!" he pointed angrily at the blood oozing from the wound. Ash grey-purple hair was plastered to his forehead, damp with sweat. Reika pulled him over and began to look it over. "You're okay Graham" she told him firmly, but gently, "just a little tumble, you've done worse"

"Yeah" he admitted glumly.

The girl then turned to the twins. "Why did you leave him behind? There's plenty of room on Orion's back or he could ride on one of the other tigers"

Tannin began to grind a tuft of grass under the toe of his shoe. Kira fiddled nervously with a twist of hair. "Well?"

"He's too slow" Tannin said defiantly, "he can't keep up, and we both wanted to see you, so we couldn't wait for him"

"Next time Graham comes to" she told them, "let him ride one of the other tigers okay"

"Oookaaay" two voices coursed.

"Hey!" the little boy exclaimed, staring up at the Ronins, "who're those guys?"

"They're our daddies, silly." Kira shook her head at Graham's ignorance.

"I'm not silly!" he screeched, preparing to launch himself at her. For a three year old, he was certainly very well-spoken.

"Hey there, cut that out" Kento leaned over and scooped the toddler up into his arms, preventing a scuffle, "didn't you mom tell you not to hit girls?"

He looked ashamed for a moment before considering the face before him, "You're gonna be my daddy, right?" he asked.

"The kid's quick." Celena commented, surprised at how much these little kids seemed to know.

"No kidding." Rowen murmured.

"Uh," Kento looked a little stunned before replying, "well, I will be, in about three hundred years, is that okay with you?"

Graham seemed to consider for a moment before answering, "I like you" he said seriously.

The warrior of strength leaned over and gently deposited the child back on his feet. With a stern look at the twins, he said, "Play nice"

"Okay" they replied, a little intimidated by him.

"Hey now Kento, leave them alone" Rowen spoke up, "they're just kids"

"Yeah" Kira said, running up and hiding behind Rowen's leg. She peeked around and stuck her tongue out at him. Chuckling, Reika turned to Tannin. "Hey do you know where we'll find the guys?"

"They're still in the ring, you can find them all there" he answered. White Blaze gave a rumble and cocked his head at the other tigers. The five cats were peering at each other in unblinking gazes. Then they all turned and began to walk back to the palace. "Looks like White Blaze is going to get acquainted with his and Iya and Icoro's children" Reika observed.

"Hold on, two of those tigers are White Blazes children!" Ryo said.

"Yes, they are Orion and Blaze, they are White Blaze and Blue Fire's children, when the other two Ice and Iyanna are Icoro and Iya's children" she explained, "there are probably others but they chose to stay here with us."

**SSSSSSSSS**

The stocky teen backed away cautiously and regarded his sparring opponent, a slim boy his own age and height, with wild blue hair dampened down on his forehead by sweat. The two of them were practicing hand-to-hand combat, off to their right were three people watching them, two boys and a girl. One of the boys had ebony hair that went to the middle of his back and was tied with a red band and he had tiger blue eyes, the other had long red hair and green eyes, and the girl sitting next to them on the rail had midnight blue hair tied in a high ponytail (like Kayura's hair style) and dark blue eyes. Off to the left of the sparring duo, another group of two teenage boys were practicing with staffs. One had sandy blonde hair and pale blue eyes and the other had auburn hair. The blonde had to keep shaking his hair out of his eyes as he thwacked away at his opponent with the staff of fire-hardened wood. The two were matched up in size and strength; though the auburn haired boy seemed to have a greater skill with the staff. The blonde found himself wishing he had a sword in his grip instead of the accursed wooden stick. "C'mon Touma, try me" the boy with ash-black hair taunted.

"That would be suicide Shu, and I'm not a kamikaze, ya know" he replied.

"Coulda fooled me!" the blonde spoke up.

"You keep out of this Seiji!" Touma snapped.

"Yeah, you've got to concentrate on me!" the kid with auburn hair reminded Seiji, smacking him upside the head with the end of the staff.

"Point taken Shin" he growled, rubbing his head and settling back into a fighting stance.

"Be careful Touma" the black haired boy said, "you don't want to charge in and not get a retaliating attack"

"I know Ryudo! You don't have to remind me!" Touma answered.

"Is he always like this?" the boy with red hair next to him asked.

"Yes he sometimes is, Anubis" Ryudo replied.

"Well if you ask me, he needs to calm down a little" the girl said, in a kind of snappy tone.

"He will when he's done with the fight, Katrina" Ryudo answered.

Anubis looked at his sister; she could be a little bit nicer when asking a question, but that's how Katrina was sometimes when watching someone fight.

"Who invented sisters who are smart alics anyway?" Anubis asked Ryudo.

Katrina turned, "What did you say!" she said.

"Oh nothing just that you can be a smart alic sometimes" Anubis replied, then he disappeared before his sister could hurt him.

"Grrr just wait till I get my hands on him!" she shrieked before she disappeared going after him.

Touma rushed at Shu, ignoring Ryudo's warning only to find himself sailing head over heels through the air, landing with a crunch on the sawdust floor of the arena. Shu gasped as he was his friend land in a crumpled heap. He hadn't meant to throw him that hard! Rushing over, he leaned worriedly over the other boy. "Geez Touma!" he blurted, "are you okay? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, honest" he reached down and started to haul the other boy to his feet. About halfway up though, Touma dug in his heels and strained backward, throwing Shu over his shoulder. No mean feet, considering how much he weighed. Shu went flying into the rail which encircled the practice ring, head first. The next thing he knew, little birds were flying in circles around his head. He swatted at one in annoyance, he glared balefully through his blurry eyes in the direction the laughter was coming from. "That was a very cheap shot Touma" he growled, still trying to get back onto his feet.

"Not surprising" another voice, shaking with laughter said, "considering that's only kind of shot he knows how to do"

Blinking, Shu was able to make out a hand in front of his face. He reached up and clasped it, then followed with his eyes up the arm, to see the face, it was one he knew. "Reika!" he exclaimed, jumping to his feet, "it's you! It's got to be!"

She giggled and pulled her hand away seeing he didn't need it anymore, "Well the last time I checked"

He hugged her so hard her feet were an inch or two off the floor. Swing her around in a circle, he said, "I can't believe you're still in one piece" he exclaimed.

"Well I would be, if you weren't trying your best to break all my ribs" she managed to gasp in return.

"Yeah Shu, you don't want to break her in half do you?" Ryudo said.

"Sorry" he grinned sheepishly, setting her back onto her feet.

Reika just threw her arms around his neck and hugged him back, and then she hugged her brother. "That's okay I missed you too Shu, Ryudo"

"Hey, just them?" another voice teased. She spun around and stuck out her tongue at the blonde boy.

"Maybe Seiji" she retorted, "why would I miss you?"

"Awww" he mock-wailed, pulling a long face, "that's no fair"

"Just kidding Gold Hair" Reika reached over and ruffled his hair so it fell over both his eyes. Shaking it away impatiently, he too pulled her into a hug. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you guys were trying to break my back" she chuckled as she laughingly pushed him away, "either that or you guys just don't know your own strength"

"You know that we'd never hurt you on purpose, Reika" a soft voice reminded her.

"Yeah Shin, I know just teasing" the other boy smiled at her.

They were about the same size; same with the others, Reika was just a little bit shorter than all of them, though the boys were the same size. "It's a relief to know you haven't changed" he murmured into her ear as he hugged her.

"Hey, I haven't been gone that long" she protested.

"Could've fooled me" the last voice snorted.

"That doesn't take much" Shu smirked evilly.

"Oh ha ha" Touma glared at the boy.

"Cut it out you two" Reika put a hand on both they're shoulders, "you guys are impossible" she shook her head.

"But we wouldn't be as much fun if we weren't" Touma grinned, the last one to hug her, "how've ya been hot stuff?"

"You're a baka, Skye!" she pushed away, ignoring the sniggers coming from the others.

"Sorry Raven" he said apologetically, using her old nickname, "like you said just kidding"

"Yeah I know" she smiled softly at her friends and brother, reassured by how little they seemed to have changed. Ryudo frowned and grabbed his sister's chin. He tilted her head a little and peered at her cheek, eyes widening at the red mark. "Rei, what happened?" he hissed.

"I had a little run in with Ralon on the way here" she confessed, grinning wryly, "I always seem to tick him off for some reason"

Shu looked like he wanted to hit something, "That brat, you really need to do something about your cousin, Shin" he turned to his friend. The auburn haired boy raised his hands in self-defense, "Hey I'm not my cousin's keeper! And Reika's got my permission to whack some sense into him"

"Why thank you" Reika mock curtsied, "but I think I'll leave putting him in his place up to his father, but not Caran, Ralon even hurts him if he can't find the person he wants to hurt for real he just takes it out on Caran, I don't think anyone can trust him anymore"

"That's a good idea, I'm sure Sali and the others told you what he's done while you've been gone?" Seiji asked.

"Yes they did, and I don't want to see him hurt Caran again, I mean he shouldn't be hurting anyone at all but he is" Reika said.

"So Rei, what's the past like?" Shin asked, perching himself atop the guardrail.

"Why don't you ask someone who can explain it a lot better than me?" she asked, gesturing towards the shadows of the arena's entrance.

The Ronins had kept to themselves out of sight in the shadows since they'd entered the ring. For a moment, they and Reika had paused in the entrance, watching the boys sparing and the two boys and the girl watching them, then after an argument the boy with red hair and the girl both disappeared apparently the girl was going after the boy to teach him a lesson about making such a comment as he did. The boys were impressive, to say the least. It was fairly obvious just who each one was descended from, hair and eye color, not to mention the general build, was a dead giveaway. Reika watched them all with a funny look in her eyes, staring faraway. As the teen who was apparently Rowen's eldest managed to hurl the larger boy into the rail which encircled the arena, she launched herself over the bar as well, and made her way over to where the boy lay, sprawled and seeing stars. Deciding to wait it out, the warriors remained concealed and watched as the six were reunited. It was plain that they were all very close; the relief on the boy's was so plain to see it was almost alarming. Ryo wasn't too sure what to make of this. It had been alarming when Reika had claimed to be his daughter, but to see people his own age or close to it, who were apparently the sons of his friends and his own, well, anyone would be disturbed. He watched as his own son (Ryudo?), Reika's brother apparently, turn her face from side to side, frowning and voicing his dislike of Ralon. 'Hmm, Skye, Raven? Nicknames, I suppose. It's not surprising; she did say that they all grew up together, so it makes sense that they should all be close. As close, perhaps, as me, the guys, and the others.' When Reika made the comment about asking someone else about the past, the Ronins took that as their cue and stepped into the light. "H-holy" Shu stammered, not able to believe what he was seeing.

"R-Reika?" Touma questioned, laying a hand on her shoulder and giving her an inquisitive look.

"Yes, it's them. I brought the Ronin Warriors"

Seiji shrugged, "I'm not surprised, you never break an oath Rei" he suddenly ginned triumphantly, "looks like Ralon owes me"

"Huh?" Reika frowned at him, "you bet against Ralon that I wouldn't make it?"

He just gave her an innocent look, "NO, I said you would make it, he's the one who said you wouldn't"

"Right" she muttered.

Shin was just staring at the younger version of his father in shock; and it wasn't too hard to see why. Out of all of them, except one, Shin and Cye resembled each other the most, to a startling degree actually. The only real difference was that unlike Cye's emerald eyes, Shin's were ocean in color. "Whoa" Kento blinked, his gaze flitting back and forth between the two, "now that's disturbing"

"Uh huh" Cye murmured, just as surprised as the other.

"Come on you two" Reika pushed between them, snapping her fingers in front of Shin's eyes, "snap out of it, it's not that strange"

"Oh really?" Touma crossed his arms over his chest. His eyes kept flitting back to Rowen. His mother always told him how much he looked like a younger version of his father, and now he had proof. Everything was the same right down to the bone structure in the faces, and that annoying lock of hair over the bridge of his nose. However, Touma's hair was a slightly deeper blue, like Kira's was but a little lighter. Reika turned to look at her brother, he and Ryo looked exactly alike besides the length of hair. "Stop staring Ryudo it's very rude" she told him.

"Sorry" Ryudo said to Ryo.

"That's okay" Ryo replied he looked from Ryudo to Reika and back again, "your Reika's brother I suppose?" he asked.

"Yes I am" was the reply.

Seiji seemed to be the only one not stunned by the recent turn of events. Shaking his head ruefully, he took it upon himself to break the awkward silence. Bowing low, he began to speak. "Thank you for coming" he said straitening up, "though I don't think any of us would admit it, but we really are in need of your help" he reached out and gripped Reika's shoulder, "Reika was brave enough to go back for you, and I realize you must all be tired from travelling through time" Seiji glanced up at a skylight in the arena's roof, tracking the amount of light coming down through it, "and now I think it's time for supper, would you like to join us?"

"Wow" Mia raised her eyebrows, "I suppose courtesy runs in the Date family" she commented.

"You may join us as well, Lady Mia, if you wish" Seiji smiled slightly.

"Food!" Kento grinned, "We haven't eaten since breakfast!"

"I suppose the appetite's hereditary" Shin commented, "I'll bet he's the only one besides your dad who can out eat you Shu" he elbowed his friend in the side.

"Oh ha ha ha. Your wit astounds me."

**Author's note: **Okay there's the second chapter hope y'all liked it.

his name is pronounced grahham as in graham cracker. hee hee I thought it was a cute name that fit Kento's personality.

Well could you please press the little button below this note and review. Thank you. Ja ne.


	3. Chapter 3

Yay I'm back. Okay for those of you confused about the name thing I'll write an author's note after chapter four (which I have written and just need to find and publish). Oh and all the warlords in this story are the younger brothers of the ones who fought against Talpa (and use their Japanese names). Oh and by the way the Anubis(with red hair) that you heard about in the last chapter along with his sister Kayura are Shiten's kids so don't get confused with them.

**Rating: **T

**Pairings:** You'll have to find out for yourself

**Disclaimer:** I only own the RW DVDs and my OCs, my friends own their OCs

**SSSSSSSSS **scene change

_italics_ telepathy

"yap yap yap" talk

'yap yap yap' thoughts

**Past**

**Meets**

**Future**

**Chapter 3**

As they approached the palace, on the way back from the training ring, Reika turned to the guys, Celena, and Mia. "Uh, would you mind telling the others I'll be late?" she asked, "I want to take a shower before coming down to dinner" she explained.

"No problem" Touma shrugged.

"Yeah, we'll save you a seat" Shin grinned.

"There'd better be some food left" she said, levelling a glare at both Kento and Shu, who flushed.

"Hey, we couldn't eat everything!" Kento protested. Then he exchanged a glance with Shu, "could we?"

"I dunno, how much do you eat?"

Reika narrowed her eyes in exasperation; "Just save me a seat" she begged, then turned and made her way through the halls to her room. Rowen narrowed his eyes as he watched her go. Something was tugging at the back of his mind, and trying to figure it out was driving him nuts. Suddenly, he could Ralon's voice in the back of his mind, "Why couldn't you have just gone back to the past and stayed there, the way everyone expected you to?"

"Hey," he spoke up, "could one of you explain something to me?" he asked the other boys.

"We'll try" Seiji replied.

"Why is everyone so surprised to see Reika?" he frowned, "so far, everyone we've met, you five, your sisters, our future selves, Caran, even the little kids, and especially Ralon seemed to think that she wasn't going to return"

"Yeah" Kento narrowed his eyes, "the little boy, Tannin, he said that he was afraid Reika had gone away forever, like Uncle Cye almost did, meaning that they thought she was dead or just badly wounded and couldn't get home, sorry bud" he apologized to Cye.

"No problem, but you've got a point" Cye chewed on his lower lip.

The five teens exchanged a significant glance. Ryudo, Touma, Shu, and Seiji all looked at Shin, who sighed dejectedly. "Why me?" he shook his head, and then turned to the Ronins.

"Well, it's got to do with time travelling" he began as they continued towards the palace, "you see, travelling forward in time is perfectly safe, but travelling backwards is extremely dangerous. People have gotten lost in the time stream before, and were never heard from again"

"And you actually let Reika go, knowing that she might never come back?" Ryo demanded, sounding outraged.

"NO!" Touma looked horrified, "You don't understand! We needed someone to go, and she volunteered"

"Yeah, ever since what happened to Shin's dad, Reika's been a little, uh, over the edge" Shu explained shooting Shin an apologetic glace, for mentioning his dad's accident, cause Shin didn't want to remember that at all.

"You mean she went crazy?" Celena asked in a hushed tone of voice.

"Not really, but she was with Shin when is happened, they both saw it, and now she's feeling bad for what happened to the amulets"

"Anyway" Shin continued, "there was also a small problem."

"Why do I get the feeling it's anything but small?" Mia muttered.

"And that would be?" Sage raised an eyebrow.

Yet another glance was exchanged. By this time, the group had drawn close to the dinning room, and they needed to wrap up the conversation. "Look," Shin lowered his voice, trying not to draw any attention, "after the amulets disappeared, the Dynasty had not yet attacked, or taken anyone hostage. The people found out what she had done and that she couldn't find the amulets. A lot of people wanted her to give the amulet she was supposed to inherit to someone else, someone who wouldn't make it disappear" he paused for breath here, "but we discovered that she couldn't, not without actually wearing the amulet, and it she could do that, there wouldn't be much point of her getting rid of it anyway"

"So those creeps decided to get rid of her" Shu hissed, clenching his hands into fists, "there were three assassination attempts"

"**WHAT!**" Ryo, Rowen, Cye, Sage, Kento, Celena, and Mia all gasped.

"Assassinations?" Mia blinked.

"Yeah she took care of the first one; they attacked during a training session when she was by herself, but the other two times they tried at night, until it was getting so we were thinking about posting a guard at her door"

"This is serious" Mia commented, "if the people were that desperate before, when the city was still free, think of what lengths they'd go to now." Celena nodded in agreement.

"Yes, we know" Seiji nodded.

"So when Reika went back in time to find us" Rowen said slowly, "most people expected her to either die and let the amulet's power go to someone else, or to stay lost in time to escape the attempts on her life" The five boys nodded.

"Yeah, that's about it" Touma sighed, "but Reika's too stubborn for her own good, now she's in big trouble"

"Oh?" another voice asked, "and why's that?"

All twelve of them turned to see a woman standing at the door to the dinning room, which they'd been standing during most of the conversion, with the girls, and Caran next to her. The woman was a little shorter than the future Ronins, with red hair like flame tied back into a high ponytail, bright ocean eyes peered at them suspiciously. "Uh, no reason mother" Shin managed to squeak out, his own ocean eyes wide in surprise since he hadn't seen her there. '_Mother!_' Cye thought. He was aware that the others were shooting glances at him except Celena she turned her head away from Cye when he looked at her, she knew who this woman was and she was blushing, she turned her head so Cye wouldn't see, because if he did she would turn an even brighter red then she was now. No wonder Reika hadn't wanted them to know about their wives, if this was how they were all going to react. The woman apparently realized who the five familiar looking teens and the teenage girl were. "Oh my!" she exclaimed, hand flying to her mouth.

"It's you isn't it?" she asked, "Reika brought you from the past, didn't she though I wasn't expecting her to bring one of you."

"That's right miss" Sage nodded, he couldn't figure out why she was talking like she knew them before this time.

"Well, I'm surprised you don't recognize me though you do have my past self with you, but Saphrita and Lee did say that you didn't recognize them either" she said.

"Well if you must know since you can't guess who I am my name's Selenity Langley" she smiled slyly at Cye, "at least it used to be; now it's Selenity Mouri"

"Uh, uh huh" he managed to stammer.

"Selenity Langley?" Mia wondered aloud, then the name clicked in her mind, she looked at the woman then to Celena then back again, "W-wait a minute you're not Celena are you?"

The woman laughed, "Yes I am Celena." she said looking at her past self.

"But don't worry about it" she smiled gently at all of them, "it must be quite a shock for you to see all of us, we've changed a lot, but it was very good of you to come" she turned back to the door and gestured over her shoulder for them to fallow, "come along, dinner's ready" she beckoned.

"Better do as she says guys" Touma murmured to the Ronins, "Aunt Celena may look fragile, but she's got a temper that rivals even Reika's"

"Yeah, let's just say it goes with her hair" Shu chuckled.

"That's not very nice to say Shu" Nadeshiko told him, trying not to chuckle herself.

"We all walk very carefully around mother" Shin told them, "the only one who can possibly calm her is Dad." Sali nodded in agreement.

"Yep!" Seiji nodded, "he keeps her quiet and she keeps him on his toes, it's a good match."

"Hey Seiji! That's not nice, besides we do have Aunt Celena's past self here or did you forget that?" Sakura asked her brother.

"Oops I guess I did forget" Seiji admitted. Sakura just rolled her eyes at her brother's ignorance.

"We better hurry, or Kento'll eat everything and we'll all go hungry!" Mia urged them, reminding them all that there was more than one bottomless pit in this place.

**SSSSSSSSS**

The dinning room was jammed with people. As soon as the past Ronins entered the room, everyone gathered there stopped eating, talking, etc, to stare. Sitting at the head of the table was Kayura. She wore a traditional kimono, ivory in color; her blue eyes went wide at the sight of them. On Kayura's right was a man with black hair and tiger blue eyes, he looked at the Ronins, then to Kayura, then back again. Next to obviously Ryo's future self was Lady Mia who they had met in the library. On her right was the elder version of Lee who they'd met in the library she smiled at them cheerily. On her right was the elder version of Rowen who they'd met in the library earlier. He smiled wryly at them. Next to Rowen was, naturally, Sage. He nodded at the Warriors, and Lady Saphrita, who was next to him, waved cheerily. Kento was seated next to Saphrita, he waved a fork laden with something and managed to smile around a mouthful. Despite the rather shocked looks they were receiving from everyone else, the Ronins attempted to smother a smile at his behavior. The woman sitting next to him was the same size as Lady Celena, she had long brown hair and green eyes; she elbowed him in the side and shook her head in exasperation. While Lady Saphrita giggled at her big brother's antics. Lady Celena crossed over to the seat right next to the yet-to-be-named woman. She sat herself regally; on her right was Cye, who smiled at his wife before giving Kento (the future one) a glare for his bad manners. Next to Cye sat a man with long auburn hair (like Caran's) and emerald eyes, he looked at them, then at Cye with a questioning look in his eyes, whatever was the question Cye smiled at him and nodded, then the man looked back at them and smiled obviously his question answered. Next to obviously Cyoran's future self was Ralon, and he pretended that he didn't even realize they were there. Next to him was the boy, Anubis, who they had seen in the training ring with the girl, Katrina, next to him. Seated a few seats down from Katrina (there were some empty chairs) in order were the Dark Warlords. Shiten, then Naaza, then Anubis, and finally Rajura, their eyes went wide as they caught sight of the Ronins. "Reika did it" Anubis gasped.

"Oh lord!" Naaza buried his face in his hands, "there's double the amount of Ronins now" he moaned.

"Oh hah hah" Kento swallowed his food and stabbed his fork menacingly in the Warlord of Venom's general direction, "my, aren't we witty?"

Kayura stood and smiled serenely at the warriors who stood awkwardly in the doorway. "Thank you for coming" she smiled warmly, "won't you please take a seat?" she gestured at the empty seats between Katrina and Shiten. There were enough for all those standing, the Ronins, Celena, Mia, Caran, the other five boys, and the four girls. "Where's Reika?" Sage asked.

"Oh yeah!" Shu replied, "she said to tell you that she was gonna be kinda late since she had to take a shower"

"She sure did need one" Ralon murmured.

"Ralon!" Caran hissed, glaring at his elder brother, who merely shrugged in return.

"It's not my fault" Ralon sniffed, "I'm just stating the facts"

"Facts my…" Touma began to shout.

"Touma!" Lee said sharply, "after dinner if you please"

"Yes mother" he muttered.

"Mother!" Ryo, Sage, Rowen, Cye, Kento, and Celena all choked.

"Y-you and, and Lee!" Cye wasn't sure if Kento was laughing or on the verge of passing out. They hadn't actually believed that Rowen and Lee were married when they were told about it in the Library, but now they did believe it. Celena was the most surprised, because in the past Rowen and Lee always argued about everything and never agreed with one another. "Oh my god" Rowen buried his face in his hands, much to the amusement of everyone else, including Lee's future self and the elder Rowen, "I'm never going to be able to look her in the face again" his friends snickered evilly.

"You'll have too now, won't you," Touma said pointedly, "unless you want to officially wipe Leeanna, Tannin, Kina, and myself out of existence"

"Speaking of which, where are they?" Rowen's eyes flickered around the room, but he didn't catch any sight of Tannin, Kina, or Graham.

"They were sent to the nursery," Lady Celena explained, "they already ate"

"I'd really hate to be responsible for keeping those kids from ever being born" Celena said quietly, keeping her eyes away from both Cye's at all costs.

Kayura heaved a sigh, "This is why it's so hazardous to time travel, the risk that things might change is so great, that there is actually a chance that people might even be eliminated"

"If it's so dangerous, then why risk it at all?" Sage raised an eyebrow.

"Because we are growing very desperate" his older counterpart confessed, "there's a way that we can hope to win under these circumstances, with the amulets gone at the time"

"Yeah we heard it all from Reika" Kento nodded.

"But why did they just disappear like that?" Cye asked them.

Rajura shrugged, "We don't know exactly, but it can't be because they didn't recognize her as its inheritor but she never told us which one she tried to touch"

Kayura heaved a sigh, "It's so complicated, we've run tests, using the armors to try and find the amulets, to try to draw them out"

Shu picked up from where she stopped, "Every time we give it a shot, Reika passes out, it must be painful or something, there's always a lot of screaming"

"When is there a lot of screaming?" came Reika's questioning voice from the doorway.

"Uh never mind"

She chuckled, shook her head and slipped between Ryudo and Sali, "Well, whatever it was you were talking about must have been pretty bad to make you forget about your dinner" she gestured at their barely touched food.

"Um, it wasn't bad nothing really" Ryudo said turning red.

Katrina rolled her eyes and elbowed Ryudo in the side, "You are such a terrible liar"

He smirked, "It must run in the family Reika's no good at it either"

"Family?" Ryo asked.

"That's right you did say that he was your brother before, didn't you?" Mia cocked her head at Reika.

"Yep" she nodded, "he's my brother I know that we look a lot alike, but we're not twins"

"Yeah so don't mistake us for twins" he agreed.

"Hmmm" Rowen looked thoughtful.

Could it be that Reika was supposed to inherit the Stars amulet and her brother the Wildfire amulet? Was that the reason the amulets disappeared because she touched the one that her brother was supposed to inherit and not the one she was supposed to get? "Rowen?" Ryo looked at his friend, "is something up, you've got that look on your face again, like you know something we don't"

"Oh it's nothing just a theory, that's all"

Everyone at the table, all the Ronins, past, present, and the Dark Warlords, exchanged a glance. They knew what that meant. "OW!" Reika's sudden yelp startled them out of their puzzlement. She glared balefully at Ralon. "You're pushing it Ralon, I'm seriously tempted to deck you"

"Why whatever did I do?" the auburn haired boy asked with an air of injured innocence.

"You kicked me in the leg!" Reika began to stand up.

Ryudo and Sali each grabbed one of her arms. They were unfazed by the dark glares she shot them apparently used to it. "Take it outside after dinner" Kayura told the boy and girl sternly. Each glared furiously at the other. "You can count on it" Reika hissed. She'd had enough of Ralon's attitude.

"Calm down" Ryudo muttered, tugging his sister back into her seat.

She reluctantly sat back down, turning her attention back to her dinner. "That's better" Kayura sounded satisfied, "now then, Reika, I wanted to congratulate you, you made it to the past and back without any hassle, and you completed your mission by bringing the, ahem, younger Ronins back with you"

"HEY!" the older Kento protested, "we're not useless or anything"

The brown haired woman next to him patted his arm gently, "Nobody said that dear" she murmured, "but you must admit, that ever since we almost lost Cye" her voice trailed off and her gaze darted to Shin.

The boy smiled, "Its okay, you don't have to tiptoe around me anymore."

"If you're sure."

"I'm sure."

"Uh," Kento cleared his throat nervously, "this is probably going to sound really rude, but how did it happen anyway?"

Silence fell, but it was broken when Rajura cleared his throat, "I could show you." he offered.

"What are you saying Rajura!" Kento demanded, "You weren't there, you didn't see what happened."

"I've pulled the information from your minds, I can key the illusion only to wearers of the armor, that way not everyone will have to see It." though he didn't look at Shin, they all knew that was who he meant.

"Pulled it from our minds?" Rowen blinked.

Rajura just shrugged, "None of you speaking coherently, we had to get some answers."

"Very well Rajura" Kayura nodded, "go ahead and show them."

**SSSSSSSSS**

For Celena, it was almost as if she had fallen asleep and was dreaming. The peculiar feeling that comes with a dream was there, and it was rather disturbing. The scene flickered into focus, she saw Ryo, Rowen, Sage, Cye, and Kento but no sign of her or the other girls. She wondered if the others were seeing this. Then she totally lost herself in the vision, almost as if she wasn't real any longer. Ryo, Rowen, Sage, Cye, and Kento were seated in what appeared to be a garden, each wearing a kimono in their own signature colors. It was late spring, for sakura blossoms were drifting down and landing on the grass, bushes, and floating on the surface of a small pond. White Blaze and Icoro lounged beneath two stone benches. "Man this feels weird." Kento was saying, "Why did the amulets just disappear like that? I just don't understand it"

"It's definitely disturbing to wake up one morning and find that they've just up and disappeared." Cye agreed.

"I never expected for something like this to happen, and I'm surprised that the powers that the amulets gave us didn't disappear with them." Rowen said.

"Hah! Speak for yourself Ro" Sage smirked, "I for one am glad the powers the amulets gave us didn't disappear, but you've always been doubtful of stuff like that."

"Oh cut it out before we throw you into the fish pond!" Rowen snapped.

Ryo was seated quietly, not caring to enter his friends' good-natured argument. He was frowning slightly, apparently lost in thought. "Hey Ryo, what's wrong?" Kento asked.

"I'm just wondering why they disappeared at all, since they were protecting our world from danger, there's no good reason I can think of." he replied, sighing heavily.

"Well maybe, the world just won't need protection from the amulets anymore" Cye suggested, "so the amulets stopped working, and went back to where they were before we found them."

"That can't be it." Ryo shook his head, "Why then would we still be able to use the powers they gave us, like being able to control our elements and let us keep the new armors they gave us, if the world is going to be at peace from now on? And why wouldn't they have vanished two centuries ago, that was the last uprising I believe."

"Still, Cye's got a point." Sage pointed out.

"Yeah, at least a theory is better than not knowing at all." Rowen shrugged.

"I just get this feeling," Ryo said darkly, "like something terrible is about to happen to us."

"You always were the optimistic one." Sage snorted.

"You should listen to Wildfire, Halo." a dry voice, rattling like the wind through a dead tree's branches hissed, "You'll never know just how right he is"

"HUH!"

The five warriors were on their feet, summoning their sub-armor with a moment's thought. They didn't even need to be in physical contact with there Kanji orbs anymore; they could just will the orbs to them. White Blaze and Icoro had sprung to their paws and were crouched down next to Ryo and Cye. "Who's out there?" Ryo demanded, his eyes sweeping the garden, flickering to each bush and tree. A terrible laughter, sounding more like someone with a case of Tuberculosis trying to hack up their lungs, drifted by on a breeze. "You wish to see me?" the voice wheeled, "Very well then." The atmosphere chilled noticeably. White Blaze and Icoro growled menacingly at a shadow cast by a huge knarled sakura tree. Having learned a long time ago to trust the tigers' instincts, the Ronins turned to face it. The shadow seemed to solidify, until a figure could be seen within it. This figure took a step outward, revealing a truly revolting person. "Well, you're an ugly one" Rowen growled. He hadn't been exaggerating either; their newest opponent reeked of decay. A cloak of rotting leather was wrapped around it, its face thrown into shadow by the cowl. There was no way to tell what gender it was, for in the places where the cloak had rotted away, only bones, yellowed by time and faintly green with mold, were visible. The thing lifted both of its skeletal hands and pushed back the cowl. A gasp of disgust ripped from five throats. The face was, if possible the more hideous than the rest of it. Blue fire flickered in the eyeless sockets, rotting scraps of flesh and muscle hung limply off the skull. The skull's grinning mouth exposed stained stumps of teeth. It clutched a wickedly sharp scythe in one bony hand, and bore a startling resemblance to Death. "After this fight, I think I'll go lose my lunch somewhere." Kento muttered.

"Let's get this over and done with" Ryo said calmly.

After three hundred years of surviving the worst types of adversaries, he had every reason to be confident.

"ARMOR OF WILDFIRE, DAO CHIN!"

"ARMOR OF STRATA, DAO INOCHI!"

"ARMOR OF HALO, DAO CHI!"

"ARMOR OF TORRENT, DAO SHIN!"

"ARMOR OF HARDROCK, DAO GI!"

A few flashes of light and swirls of sakura petals later, the Ronin Warriors stood garbed in their full battle armor, holding their weapons with the ease of a person who knew how to use them. "Now you're in for it." Sage threatened.

"Let's get rid of this guy, or this whole garden is going to smell like old garbage." Cye said, wrinkling his nose at the stench.

"Should I be frightened?" it hissed. It became apparent that the strange slicking noise that punctuated the thing's speech was due to the clacking together of its teeth.

"You bet your spinal cord, you should."

"We shall see."

Suddenly the thing disappeared, and a brief shadow flitted across the ground, re-solidifying next to Kento. A downward slash of that scythe left a deep gouge in the orange metal of his chest plate. "We can't see it move!" Rowen cried.

"Arrgh, how do we fight it then?" Cye gripped his yari tighter in frustration.

"We wait for it to stop to hit one of us, and then take it out." Ryo called.

"But we could hurt whoever the target is!" Sage reminded him.

Kento was growling with rage, "That's it; the grim reaper over there is in for it now!"

Their enemy disappeared again, only to reappear perched in the top of a sakura tree. "You're beginning to bore me Ronins" it rattled. There came a sound of pounding footsteps, and both Shin and Reika were standing in the open garden gate. "Father?" Shin asked obviously puzzled by the fact that he and his uncles were all wearing their armor.

"Shin, Reika!" Cye shouted, "Run now! Get away from here both of you, and get your mothers, Kayura, and the Warlords quickly!"

Shin and Reika both blinked, but then they noticed the cloaked form in the treetops, "Right dad, we'll be right back." They turned to run for their lives, but a rasping chuckle came from the tree. "I think not little ones." It reached out a fleshless hand, and made a curious gesture. Red fire, the color of clotted blood, flew from its hand, heading straight for Shin and Reika. Two ear-splitting roars tore through the air, White Blaze and Icoro seemed to come out of nowhere as if by magic in front of the boy and girl. The bolts contacted with the tigers' sides, sending them flying into the wall. They slid down it leaving bright red smears behind them. "No!" all seven of the horrified onlookers screamed, Reika ran over to them to see if the tigers were okay.

"The fun is just beginning." the thing chortled.

It made another gesture, this time snapping and rotating its wrist around in a way that would have been impossible if there had been any tendons attached to it. A bubble of that same corrupted red formed around Shin and hurled him up through the air, leaving him hovering about fifty feet above the ground.

"Let me down!" he screamed, pounding his fists helplessly against the walls of the bubble.

"FLARE UP NOW!"

The cry of Ryo's sure-kill echoed around the garden, sending a column of intense flames roaring towards the demon. It leaped out of the way, letting the power rip through the garden, and blow up a part of a nearby building. "Darn!" Rowen gasped "We can't use our sure-kills, or we'll end up destroying the whole city."

"Let Shin down you compost heap!" Kento demanded, outraged by the whole thing.

"As you wish." it said calmly.

The bubble went smashing to the ground with a bone-shattering crunch! Cye was at his son's side so quickly it was nearly impossible. He gently pulled him into a sit-up position. "Shin are you alright?" he asked, eyes anxious.

"Uh huh" he nodded groggily, "I don't think anything's broken."

Cye let out the breath he had been holding in relief, "God you scared me"

"What about White Blaze and Icoro?" he still sounded out of it. He tried to turn to see if they were alright, but his father pulled him back. "Don't look. I'm sure they'll be okay." was all he could say.

"**CYE!**" he heard Ryo shout.

"**WATCH OUT!**" Rowen cried.

Cye tuned in time to see a huge ball of energy heading towards him and his son. Thinking quickly he pushed Shin out of the way and took the blast head on. Shin watch horrified as his father screamed in agonizing pain. Shin just barely made it to his side in time to catch him before he hit the ground. "**CYE!**" suddenly his uncles were there, and they pulled Shin away from his father. Sage leaned over to check his wounds. "How is he?" Kento asked.

"His wounds are very bad, and their deep they're almost to the bone." Sage replied.

"Can you do anything heal the wounds Sage?" Ryo asked.

Sage looked at him, "I'll heal what I can." was all he could say around the lump in his throat, he leaned over Cye again and started to glow a bright green.

Tears poured down Shin's face. He watched as the Armor of Torrent disappeared from his dad's body, leaving him dressed in the kimono he had on before but it had gashes in it where his wounds were. "Muhahahahaha!" maniacal laughter rang around the garden. The Ronins turned back to glare balefully through tear-filled eyes at their horrific opponent. "How pitiful, and he was one of the strongest out of all of you with the power that amulet gave him." it laughed again, even more evil than before, if possible, "so you know what a truly pitiful thing that is?"

"Keep your jaw shut or do I have to shut it for you?" Kento shouted, surging to his feet and looking as if he really wanted to tear something (or someone) apart with his bare hands.

"The pitiful thing to this is that he probably won't survive that no has"

The four men stared blankly at the demon. Shin was still crouched, beside his father's still form not believe a word the thing had said, he knew his father would pull through.

"What do you mean?" Rowen demanded, "Why not?"

"Like I said no one has survived that attack and I have used it many times, and no matter how strong the person's will is, they always die."

"Why should we believe you?" Ryo shouted.

"You're lying through what's left of your teeth." Sage growled in a dangerous voice.

"Why would I lie? He may have pulled through and recovered from other attacks, and I assure you no matter how much you think he will he won't and you will never recover the amulets those trinkets are gone for good." there was a mocking tone in that ghostly voice.

"**BE QUIET!"** Shin screamed ocean eyes blazing with anger.

He leapt to his feet, snatched the sword of Halo out of a stunned Sage's hand and rushed the demon. It must have been just as surprised as the Ronins by his sudden rage, for it was caught completely off guard. He brought the razor-sharp blade down in a diagonal slash that started at the thing's left eye, and went all the way down to the right side of its chin. Then he brought it back across the demon's rotting throat, slashing a wide grin into what was left of the skin. The thing brought its hands up to cover its face and clutch at its throat. What appeared to be black puss oozed from the terrible wounds Shin had inflicted upon it. It glared at Shin with intense hatred. "You have not seen the last of me, boy," it rasped, "and your father will never recover nor will you ever be able to use that lost amulet of his." its broken voice took on a singsong quality. "When we meet again, you will lose, for the amulets are lost forever to the Ronins and the Mystics or until such a time as when they become ours" Then the demon dissolved it literally fell apart into a pile of dust and ashes. Even its rotting leather cloak went up in a puff of smoke, to be swirled away on the wind. The Ronins stared at Shin's back in shock. They'd never seen anyone, short of Sage himself; handle the Sword of Halo like that. The Sword fell from nerveless fingers, to land softly on the grass forgotten. Shin's shoulders started to shake. His fingers moved towards his belt and he slipped a dagger from its sheath. The only thing on his mind was to end the terrible anguish eating at his soul, he'd never felt so alone. He set the tip of the dagger above his heart and was just readying himself to push it home when a hand gripped his wrist. "Shin" Sage said in an undeniably calm voice, "I almost lost your father, he's just barely alive, do you think he would like it if he found out that I had let you kill yourself?" Shin just stared at him for a moment, and Sage feared that the boy had lost his mind; there was such blankness in his eyes. His fingers lost their grip on the dagger and it fell to the ground next to the Sword of Halo. "Oh Uncle Sage." he wailed, tears coursing down his face. He threw his arms around Sage's neck, and Sage banished his armor and sub-armor quick as a thought. Shin sobbed into his shirt, completely inconsolable. Ryo, Kento, and Rowen exchanged anguish-filled glances as Reika came over from the wall where the tigers were to try and help Sage comfort Shin. It was a huge relief for them that Cye wasn't dead and it was probably going to be a bigger relief to Celena, then Kento leaned down and gently picked Cye up off the ground. The sound of pounding footsteps drew the attention of everyone but Shin. Ryudo, Touma, Shu, Caran, and Seiji appeared at the garden gate. Their eyes widened when they saw Ryo, Rowen, and Kento in their armor with Reika standing beside them, and Shin sobbing in Sage's arms. "Father, what-?" Seiji asked but Ryudo grabbed his arm and gestured frantically in the direction of the wall. Both White Blaze and Icoro lay there, their bodies a mass of blood and tangled fur. From the position both were laying in it looked as if they had broken some ribs on impact but besides that they seemed alright. They saw the Ronin Warriors of Wildfire, Strata, and Hardrock with their fallen companion Torrent in his arms eyes closed and unconscious, and everything became clear. "Oh God" Touma gasped. To everyone's surprise, it was Rowen who took charge. On the battlefield, he usually served as Ryo's second –in-command, but not at home; not when he wasn't needed. "Touma, go get your mothers, Kayura, and the Warlords, we need to talk with them" he said quietly, but firmly, and his voice was steady, something the others hadn't managed yet. Touma nodded and vanished around the corner. Caran walked over to where Sage was attempting to comfort Shin, and he took the boy into his own arms, he wasn't sure if he'd realized that he had done that. He sensed Ryudo coming up behind them he kneeled down and put his arms around them. Seiji laid a hand on Shin's shoulder, it was rather awkward, but he was trying at least. Rowen, Ryo, Kento, and Sage looked at each other then looked at Cye's form, at least he was breathing but it was still pretty shallow sounding. "Sage we should see if White Blaze, and Icoro are okay, there's nothing more we can do right now." Sage nodded in agreement and both went over to do so. Rowen stayed next to Kento his eyes still on Cye. Kento looked at Caran, Ryudo, and Seiji trying their best to comfort Shin and sighed. "What?" Rowen asked.

"I'm just glad that Cye is alive it would have been worse if he didn't, I don't even want to think of what Celena would do if that happened." Kento said in a quiet voice.

"Well at least be glad that it didn't." Rowen replied, "He'll be alright. Don't worry."

Kento nodded in agreement, and then they both went over to where Ryo and Sage were. Caran was still trying to quell that flood of Shin's tears. He rubbed his back, "Shhh, it'll be okay Shin" he murmured in his ear. To his surprise, he pulled his face away from him shirt and looked at him, his eyes watery and red, "No Caran, it'll never be okay again"

**SSSSSSSSS**

The Ronins came back to themselves with a shock. For a moment, they just stared blankly at one another, and then at Cye. He was visibly shaken and blinked rapidly as if to clear his vision. "What a way to go." Kento whispered.

"Cye?" Celena reached over and gently touched his wrist, bringing him back to the real world, "Are you alright?"

He smiled at her reassuringly, "Yeah I'm fine, just a little uh surprised." he explained.

"Um, were we supposed to see that?" Shu asked tentatively.

"No why?" Rajura frowned.

"Cuz' we did" Seiji finished.

"What! How!" Kayura blinked.

"It must be because of their blood link to the armors" Lady Saphrita explained calmly.

"And if we saw it, then…" Reika's voice trailed off and her eyes widened. A racking sob came from Shin's direction. His shoulders were shaking and he was staring at his hands, which were clenched into fists in his lap. "H-How could you?" he managed to say, turning an accusing gaze at Rajura.

"I don't know how you managed to see that illusion." he tried to explain, "It must be because the armor is strong inside you, even though you don't possess it yet"

"Darn the armor!" he yelled, "I just want things back to the way they were!"

He stood up so fast that his chair toppled backwards, but he didn't seem to notice. Tears poring down his face, Shin turned and ran from the room, leaving an awkward silence behind him. "You did it again Spider Boy." Anubis growled, slapping Rajura upside that head.

"It's hardly my fault." he glared back.

"It's no one's fault." Kayura spoke up, heading off an argument, "What happened that day was no one's fault."

Exchanging a glance, Ryudo, Reika, Touma, Leeanna, Seiji, Sakura, Sali, Shu, and Nadeshiko all pushed back their chairs and stood up as well. "And where do you think you're all going?" Cye asked them, an eyebrow lifted up in amusement. Everyone turned to look at him; he hadn't done much talking after all.

"To find Shin" Touma replied.

"Yeah he's our friend, we're not going to let him go through this alone" Leeanna added.

Cye smiled at them, "I understand that you wouldn't be true friends if you didn't try to help him, but any sympathy you could possibly offer would be false"

"Hey I don't know what you are talking about, I know you saw the same thing that we did but what would you know." Shu sounded angry. Sali glared at him for making such a rude comment and kicked him to make him be quiet. "Look none of you have really lost anyone have you?" he asked calmly. Cye's counterpart and Cyoran's future self looked at each other they knew who Cye was talking about. Uncomfortable looks were exchanged between the children, Cye did have a point. "And you have?" Seiji asked. Cye nodded and Naaza cleared his throat, Cye smiled at him, "It's alright, it was a long time ago at least by your standards." He still looked embarrassed but nodded anyway. "Anyway I think I should go talk to him." Lady Celena looked thoughtful, but first exchanged a glance with her husband for his approval before answering, he nodded he thought it was a good idea as well. "I think its best if you do." she said, "Shin's room is on the third floor, left wing fifth door down."

Cye looked a little confused, but stood, "I'll be right back" he said and left the room. Unknown to everyone else Ryudo, Reika, and Sali quietly slipped out after him.

**SSSSSSSSS**

It took him a few minutes, but eventually Cye found the door. He pushed at the entrance, beginning to wonder if this had been such a good idea. '_Come on Cye, Shin could really use your help right now_', he told himself. Taking a deep breath he pushed the door open, wondering why it wasn't locked, not to mention whether or not Shin would soak him with water. He didn't see what he expected. It was more like a sitting room, with a door which must have led off into the bedroom, and another which was probably was the bathroom, but then again he was just guessing. Cye knocked on one of the doors, there was no answer, so he opened it. Shin was curled up on his four-poster bed, knees drawn up to his chest and face buried in his arms. "Shin?" Cye sat next to him and laid a hand on the boy's shoulder, "I know this is going to sound weird and it's a really bad question to ask, but, are you okay?"

There came a sniffing noise, "I-I don't know really" his muffled voice came from behind his arms.

"Care to explain that?" Cye asked gently.

Shin sniffed again, "It's just because, I almost lost my father he was always there for me, none of the others would understand but without him around it's like I'm alone and I hate being alone its scary."

"I understand" Cye replied.

Shin peeked out from under his elbow, the unwound himself from the ball, "What do you mean?"

Cye took a deep breath, "I lost someone who was very close to me like your father he was always there for me, he was my elder brother, Corin. You and Sali would have had another uncle here in the future if he hadn't died during the war with Taparago"

Shin sat up and looked curiously at Cye from reddened eyes, "How did it happen?"

Cye managed a smile, "Truth to be told, your Uncle Naaza had poisoned him and he died from it, he died right before my eyes."

"I'm so sorry" Shin said sympathetically.

Cye shook his head, "Actually I've forgiven him for it." he said simply.

"What!" Shin blinked in surprise, "How could you? I could never forgive that, that thing for what it did to my father"

"It's because he apologized, after the Warlords realized that Taparago had been controlling them they became good guys, I'm sure you've heard their stories" the other boy nodded, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. "I forgave him because he well, reformed, I guess you could say, and fought for the same things as my brother fought for originally."

"I think I understand." Shin said, "Tell me about your brother."

For a while, the two boys sat and traded stories. Cye found that telling Shin these things seemed to ease the ache he'd been carrying inside him for so long. He also heard some rather amusing incidents involving the others. He only wished he could have been there, the blackmail possibilities would have been endless. "So why don't you come back down to dinner?" he asked Shin.

A stunned look appeared on Shin's face. "I couldn't! Not after that, and besides" his voice dropped low, "I know I remind my Uncles of my father, we look so much alike, its painful for them if something has happened to my father and he wasn't around, now you see what I mean by being alone." he sounded glum.

Cye draped an arm around the boy's shoulders, "Look, they really care for you, its not painful for them, maybe its even a relief to know that some part of your father is alive, and besides you aren't alone, Caran's your cousin right, you still have blood relatives in him, Cyoran, Ralon, and Sali, and the others were really worried when you left the table, I had to convince them not to come up here."

Shin looked puzzled, "But why?"

"Because they're your friends and friends are supposed to worry about each other" Cye told him.

Shin shook his head, "No that's not what I mean, why did you tell them not to come?"

Cye smiled, "Sometimes it's easier to talk to another guy one-on-one instead of having more than one plus some girls, and you and I both have something in common that our family is our friends now as well"

A slow smile spread across Shin's face, "You're right Cye, and I probably should've seen that earlier, it still hurts but not so bad anymore"

The two boys exchanged a hug and Cye stood up, "So are you coming back down to dinner?"

"Uh, I don't think so; I'll stay up here, if that's alright with you"

"It's fine by me, either way; I'll tell them you're fine."

"Thank you."

As Cye exited the room into the hall he was surprised to see Ryudo, Reika, and Sali standing there. "Is he alright?" Sali asked.

Cye nodded, "Yes he is, you can go talk to him if you want."

"Okay, are you heading back downstairs?" Ryudo asked, "Cause if you are can you please not tell them that we're up here okay?"

"Alright." Cye replied.

"Thank you Cye"

**SSSSSSSSS**

Conversation in the dinning room had dropped to a minimum. Quiet talks were all that could be heard. The low buzz of people conversing in low voices barely above a whisper filled the air. The Ronins of the past stayed out of all discussions, listening instead to what was being said, hoping to gain some idea of what they were getting into. "I didn't know that Shin was suicidal." Touma frowned.

"We didn't think it would be a good thing to tell you" his father admitted.

"But why's that?" Shu demanded.

"Why wouldn't we want to know?" Leeanna said.

"Because we might have treated him differently" Caran said in a low voice, "what Shin needed was to be treated normally so at least something would be the same."

"You act like you knew all along that he had tried to kill himself." Nadeshiko accused.

Caran just shrugged, "I did actually."

"**WHAT!**" his friends, father, and his various aunts and uncles glanced at him in surprise.

"Okay two questions" Seiji raised two fingers, "one when did you find out, and two why didn't you tell us?"

Caran actually looked embarrassed, "Do you guys remember that time, about two days after what happened, when we sort of drew straws to see who'd have to go talk to him?"

_start flashback_

The five boys stood awkwardly outside the door to Shin's room. Their sisters were elsewhere talking to Reika. "Uh, why don't you go Touma?" Shu suggested.

"Me? Why me? Why not Seiji?"

Seiji gulped and glanced at the door, "Uh no how about Ryudo?"

Ryudo stared at the door, "Uh no thanks, I think Caran should go."

"Huh?" Caran blinked.

"Ryudo's right Caran" Shu nodded, "you're definitely the right choice, Shin trusts you the most, you have to talk to him."

"No thanks, just because my element of ice relates to water, and just 'cause I'm his cousin doesn't mean I have to." the sacrificial lamb shook his head violently.

"Aw come on."

A few minutes later, he's be forcibly pushed through the door, which had been closed behind him with an ominous click. "Oh boy" he muttered under his breath. But they'd been right; he was the logical choice to talk to Shin. He'd been locked in his room for two days without speaking to anyone. All of the food they'd left had been found untouched and cold. "Shin you in there?" Caran knocked softly on his door. There was no answer from the other side. Frowning a little to himself, he pushed past it and stopped to stare in shock at what he saw. Shin was seated on his bed, his light blue and silver hilted dagger in one hand. He quite calmly stared at the glittering point as he held it against his wrist. "Oh, hi Caran" he said as casually as if he's just run into him in the hallway.

"Shin, what are you doing with that thing?" Caran asked, trying not to let the panic he was feeling creep outside into his voice, he had totally lost it.

"I was just wondering whether or not to use this thing." Shin said, almost as if asking him what the weather was like outside.

"What do you mean?" Caran hesitantly took a seat next to his cousin.

Shin turned to look at him, his eyes were red from lack of sleep, but dry, he hadn't been crying. "Do you think I should kill myself?" Shin asked matter-o-factly.

Caran blinked in surprise, "Of course not Shin?" he gasped, "How can you even ask that?"

Shin's eyes welled up with tears, "Why would I want to live Caran?" he sobbed turning away and gripping the dagger even tighter, Caran wondered why it hadn't been taken away from Shin. "I've got nothing left to live for, my father almost **DIED**, and its my fault, if I hadn't shown up, hadn't distracted him..." his voice trailed away and his shoulders began to shake with suppressed sobs. Caran pulled him in to cry into his shoulder, much like the way he had done the day Shin's father was almost killed, "Shhh, Shin, it's not your fault, that thing was so powerful, and yet you managed to destroy it."

"I didn't" a faint whisper of Shin's voice reached his ears, "that thing will come back, and we'll all die"

"Then we'll die" Caran said simply, "but you won't be alone when we do."

Shin pulled back and stared at him in shock. "Don't you get it Shin?" he asked gently, "the guys and I, we're all worried about you, they're outside even now, waiting for word about how you're doing. My father, your mom and dad, and your other aunts and uncles, they're all concerned because you haven't been eating, and they haven't seen you, you are surrounded by people who love you, if they didn't why would Uncle Sage have kept you from killing yourself?" Shin blinked in surprise as if he had never thought about that. "You have to live Shin, for all of us, for you father, because I know he wouldn't want you to kill yourself on his behalf." Caran's words opened a floodgate and he held Shin and waited until he's cried himself out. "Come down soon and eat something, okay?" Caran stood to leave, but was pulled back down as Shin grabbed his wrist.

"Please don't tell anyone about this, okay?" he pleaded, gesturing at the dagger, lying forgotten on the bedspread between them, "I don't want them to think I've gone off the deep end."

Caran himself wasn't too sure of his sanity, but nodded anyway, "I promise, it'll be our secret for now."

As a sign of how much he trusted him, he left the dagger in his possession when he left.

_end flashback_

"So you see, he really has tried to kill himself before." Caran finished; taking a sip from his glass to ease his dry throat.

"I don't think he'll try again though." Cye's quiet voice came from the doorway. Every head in the room swivelled to look at him. He dropped into his chair between Kento and Celena. He looked a little tired, but satisfied. "Cye, what happened?" Kento asked his friend.

"We just talked about some things Kento must you know everything?" he asked sarcastically.

"No." was the reply.

"Then stop being so curious all the time." Cye said.

"What did you talk about?" Kayura asked.

Cye shrugged, "About different things, he told me a lot of, ahem, amusing stories."

"It's good to know he'll be alright." Anubis said, sounding very relieved.

"AAAAHHHH!" Ralon's screech echoed around the room as he leaped out of his chair. Caran tried not to burst out laughing.

"What? What is it?" his father demanded, trying not to laugh himself.

"S-something's under there!" he squealed, pointing under the tablecloth. A striped white head poked out and blinked innocently at the enraged boy.

"White Blaze!" Ryo exclaimed it was his tiger; this one had brown eyes, and not the blue of Orion.

"I guess he and the other tigers got to know each other and then he was lying here in wait for us." Rowen chuckled.

"But where are the other tigers" said Shu looking around, "come to think of it where are Ryudo, Reika, and Sali?"

"I'll bet I know." a soft smile flickered across the face of the brown haired woman that was sitting next to the future Kento. She made a beckoning gesture and shrugging everyone rose to follow, leaving dirty dishes behind. She led them through a twisted maze of passages, much of which Reika had, until they ended up in a tower room. She then pushed open the door to revel a touching sight. All four of the tigers were sprawled out on the floor serving as pillows for Ryudo, Reika, Shin, Sali, Tannin, Kina, and Graham. Reika and Ryudo shared Orion with Tannin in-between them with Blaze curled up at their feet, the female tigers front paws linked with Orion's, making a circle around them. Ice was the same way as Orion front paws linked to his and he served as a pillow for Shin and Sali with Kina in-between them. Iyanna was curled up like Blaze was, making a circle around the children and finally Graham was curled up where the four tigers front paws were linked together with his head on Orion's chest. A matronly old woman was seated in a rocking chair near the window, watching everything with an expression of benevolence on her face. "All four of the children came in here, Reika said she wanted to be with the littles for awhile said she missed them, the other three just follow her in." the woman explained.

"This is Marina Toreni the children's nanny." Kayura explained.

Soft smiles appeared on everyone's faces. It was nice to see a peaceful scene during such turmoil. Celena (the future one) crossed to a crib behind the slumbering seven-some and lifted a bundle from inside it. She walked back over to Cye (the younger one) and gently deposited whatever it was into his arms. "This is Sonya." she said softly, flipping back a fold of cloth to reveal the peacefully sleeping face of a baby. Reddish fuzz on the infant's forehead was sticking up in all directions, but she was amazingly cute. The other Ronins from the past also pressed to get a look. "Hmmm, so when she grows up we'll know what Cye would look like if he'd been born a girl." Kento joked.

"If I wasn't holding this baby, I'd hit you." Cye glared at him.

"Quiet now you two," Sage scolded, "let's go we don't want to wake them."

Everyone turned to file out the door, but Ryo stopped and turned back to regard the sleeping children. "What do we do with Reika, Ryudo, Shin, and Sali?" he asked quietly.

"Leave them there." Kayura said simply.

"They spend many nights in the nursery." Lady Saphrita said, "Sonya has frequent nightmares, and Reika's talent of creating images in one's mind is useful in quieting the baby and allowing us all some sleep and the others are usually with her those four are inseparable"

"Sonya inherited her mother's piercing voice." the older Rowen said wryly, earning himself a dark glare from Celena's counterpart and an exasperated look from Cye's counterpart. "Come now," Kayura gestured, "we have dishes to clean up, and then I'll show you to your rooms."

"Dishes?" Kento asked plaintively.

"Yes dishes," Kayura replied firmly, "all the staff is currently occupied in the other wings, helping refugees."

"Man that was a great dinner" Kento said when they got back to the dinning room.

Cye rolled his eyes, "You think every dinner you have is great."

Celena suppressed a laugh, and covered her mouth with her hand to hide the smile on her face. "Oh very funny" Kento glared at both of them. "My question is though who helped, I can tell Cye's cooking is here but I can see that someone else also made some of this food and whoever did is a great cook."

"Well I'll be sure to tell my mom that you enjoy her cooking." Shu said.

"Your mother?" Kento asked, "Who is she?"

"Kento are that dense she's the brown haired lady that we saw before." Celena said trying not to tell Kento that it was Kahlan's future self.

"Yes very funny he should say that because he never gave me a complement like that in the past." A voice came from the kitchen that had a tone to it that Kento recognized.

"Who said that?" Kento asked as the brown haired lady poked her head in from the kitchen.

"I did." was the reply.

Kento just stared at her for a minute then looked a Celena with a questioning look. "Is that who I think it is?" he asked his voice barley a whisper, Celena nodded in answer. Kento just took another look at her and fainted. "Hmmm that is quite the reaction that I was expecting from him." Kahlan said. Celena (the future one) looked at her friend, "Yes, but I'm quiet surprised that he didn't recognize you."

"Well that is how he always acted around me anyway when I did something he didn't know that I could do, so I quite expected that reaction." Kahlan said simply. All of them both past and future Ronins and the children burst out laughing.

"Yes but now we all must bet some sleep" the future Sage said, "tomorrow we plan, train, and the next day we attack."

**TBC...**

**Author's Note:** Okay that's it for now please press the little button below this message and review. If you don't I'll...I'll...I'll oh I don't know what I'll do but it'll be awful. C&C both accepted. Ja ne.


	4. Chapter 4

Just to let everyone know, I know it's a bit late but what the heck, I am the one who originally wrote this story with the help of my friends, SouriMaxwellYue068 and HieisSoulmateIsKagome who helped my create their characters Saphrita and Kahlan and everything that goes with those two characters.

**Rating: **T

**Pairings:** You'll have to find out for yourself

**Disclaimer:** I only own the RW DVDs and my OCs, my friends own their OCs

**SSSSSSSSS **scene change

_italics_ telepathy

"yap yap yap" talk

'yap yap yap' thoughts

**Past**

**Meets**

**Future**

**Chapter 4**

The bright sunlight lanced through the window to shine rudely right into Ryo's eyes. He grumbled, but opened them reluctantly. For a moment, he wasn't sure where he was, it certainly wasn't the room that he had back at Mia's manor. That little voice in the back of his head reminded him that he and the others were in the future, that Reika had brought them. He remembered the vision he'd seen the night before and he remembered Kayura showing them the room they were currently sleeping in, and apologizing for the fact that they had to share one, since most of the other rooms were full of refugees. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen any, but then again, they were probably too scared by what had happened to the city to come out very often.

The room was roughly the size of Shin's room and he only knew that because Cye had described it to them. They'd all crashed in the sitting room portion of the suit. White Blaze was curled up in front of the door that led off to the bedroom, where Celena and Mia were. Kento was sprawled on the floor, snoring uproariously. Ryo was surprised the others were still asleep, even Cye was for once though he was an early riser like Ryo, but the fact that the guys were still out cold was something of a miracle. Rowen was curled up on the other end of the couch Ryo was on, he'd lost count of the number of times Rowen had kicked him during the night, the archer was **not** a sound sleeper. Sage was lying of his back on the love seat, his arm thrown over his face, snoring softly. Cye was on the other couch, sleeping on his side, left arm dangling over the edge. Ryo looked over at Cye, still trying to reassure himself that his friend was still in one piece, that vision had been so real. To his surprise, he met a pair of laughing emerald green eyes. "It's weird, isn't it?" Cye asked quietly, "waking up here I mean."

Ryo nodded, "Yeah, for a minute there, I couldn't remember where I was."

"Should we wake up the others?" Cye still sounded a little sleepy.

"I'm already up." Sage's groggy voice came from somewhere under his elbow, "you should be worrying about Rowen, not me."

Cye sat up and prodded Kento's sleeping form with his foot. The noise cut off mid-snore, and a strangled sound came from the floor. "Wha-?" Kento asked, his voice sounding muddled.

"Welcome back to the world of the living." Sage grinned. Kento glared at him through sleep filled eyes.

"Hah!" he snorted, sitting up and rubbing at his eyes, "you should save that comment for Rowen, if we can get him up, that is."

"Hmm" Ryo frowned thoughtfully, stood up, and walked behind that couch where he and Rowen had crashed on. He promptly pushed Rowen off the couch, a loud thump sounding as he landed, but Rowen just grumbled a little, and rolled over. "Oh no you don't!" Sage said, snatching a pillow off the seat behind him and whacking his friend with it. Taking their cue from him Ryo, Cye, and Kento picked up their own pillows and soon Rowen was curled up into a fetal position, arms over his head to try and ward off the blows. "Uhhh, go away" he mumbled.

Whap!

"Nope not till you get up." Cye grinned.

Whack!

"Move it blue boy!" Sage smacked his friend relentlessly.

Poof!

Kento had hit Rowen so hard his pillow had exploded, a cloud of feathers blossoming out of the rent in the cloth.

Smack!

After blowing a feather out of his face, Ryo brought his pillow down on Rowen's head. "Get up!" he insisted. Rowen just curled up even tighter.

"Get up or I'll go get Lee to do it for you!" Celena threatened, she and Mia had come out of their room because of the noise.

"You wouldn't!" a gasp came from under the pillow Rowen held protectively over his head.

"Watch me" Celena sounded dangerous.

Rowen started to uncurl from the tight ball he was in. White Blaze just put his paws over his ears. At that moment, the door opened revealing a young woman none of them recognized as she entered. She stopped in her tracks for a moment and blinked at them all in surprise, obviously not expecting to see four of the Ronins ganging up on another, or maybe she was just appalled because the mess they'd made with the feathers and pillows. "Uhh" she apparently wasn't too sure of what to do.

"Can I help you with anything?" Cye asked politely.

The woman apparently gathered her scattered wits together and straightened up. "The children sent me to wake you; it's rather late in the day. They're out in the ring" she explained.

"Oh, well, just give us a second" Mia said.

The girl shrugged and left and the four Ronins went back to bashing Rowen with pillows.

**SSSSSSSSS**

As they made their way out to the training area, that single ray of sunlight over the castle seemed to be dimmer that before. It became apparent to them that they were running out of time. "I don't like the looks of that." White Blaze rumbled worriedly, seeming very much on edge.

"Come on Blaze." Ryo called to him, "We should be safe in the palace"

"I hope so anyway." the tiger grumbled ominously.

It was dark and cool inside the training ring. The sent of sweat and sawdust filled the air, dust notes dancing in the faint light that was shining through the skylight in the training ring's roof. Leaning casually against the guard rail were Ryudo, Reika, Sakura, Leeanna, Shin, Sali, Caran, Shu, and Nadeshiko. Dueling it out in the center of the ring were Touma and Seiji, each of them was holding a staff identical to the ones Shin and Seiji had been using the day before. "Hey, what's up?" Kento greeted the eight teens, taking a place on the rail as well, a move imitated by the other six. White Blaze just dropped down on the floor, a cloud of dust billowing up, suddenly feeling displaced. "We're just seeing how well those two hold up under unfamiliar weaponry." Shin explained to them.

Shu rolled his dark blue eyes, "What he means is, we've put those two up against each other because neither of their primary weapons are staffs."

"It's sort of like training just in case Touma finds himself in a situation when he can't use his bow in, or if Seiji loses his sword." Reika chuckled, she was getting a kick out of this since neither boy was an expert with a staff, but at least they were proficient enough to hold their own, especially against each other. The spar ended when Seiji got in a hit to Touma's rib cage. The blue haired teen crashed to the ground, the wind having been knocked out of him. "I think I won this one." Seiji said, bending over to help Touma to his feet.

"I think you're right, I'll admit defeat this time, but just you wait cause next time I won't lose." the other boy threatened.

"I'll believe that when I see it." Shu shouted from the side.

"No one asked you!" Touma hollered back.

"Oh come on guys." Sali sighed and motioned them to come over to the rail, "Cut it out now okay, the last thing we need is to be at each others throats."

"They're just kidding Sae." Sakura reminded her.

She sighed a little, "Guess I'm kinda edgy."

"It's okay" Shin said as he squeezed his sister's shoulder, "Trust me you're not the only one."

White Blaze rumbled in agreement, causing everyone there to chuckle in amusement. Ryo ruffled the tiger's ears affectionately, "You too boy?"

"Hey Shin why don't you spar with someone?" Shu suggested, grinning.

Shin stared at him, "Uh no thanks I don't really feel like it."

"Oh come on Shin" Reika urged, "stop being so modest, go on and spar a little."

Ryudo then leaned over and whispered something into Shin's ear. Shin's eyes widened as he shook his head, "Oh no I'm not sparring against him!" he exclaimed.

"Oh come on let's see how good you are against him." Ryudo pleaded.

Shin avoided his eyes "I said no and that's final!"

"Who do you want him to spar against so badly Ryudo?" Nadeshiko asked.

"Oh I just asked if he would like to spar against Cye to see if he can beat him." Ryudo explained. The past Ronins looked surprised. "Uh no thanks" Cye said. Kento sighed dejectedly then he pushed Cye, who was sitting on the rail, off of it. Cye landed onto the ground with a crash, he sat up and glared at Kento, "What was that for?"

"Oh come on it's just a little spar what could happen?" Kento asked. Cye and Shin stared at each other, "Oh alright" Shin said finally jumping over the rail. Shin crossed over to the rack of weapons on the far wall and grabbed two staffs tossing one to Cye. "I'll warn you I won't go easy on you, so don't hold back okay." Shin said.

"Okay." was the reply.

Shin charged at Cye, Cye tried to a low sweep, but Shin jumped into the air. "Alright Cye won't escape this attack, it's Shin's best" Shu exclaimed. But he was surprised to see that Cye brought his staff right above his head and blocked Shin's attack. Shin landed on the ground a few feet away, only having a few seconds to recover before Cye charged at him. Shin tried a low sweep similar to what Cye had done before, intending to take Cye out at the ankles. He somehow knew it was coming and took a leap into the air, somersaulting over his head to land behind him. Cye spun around and slashed at Shin's back but he'd already turned and stepped out of range. Shin brought his staff down in an arch which quite possibly could have split Cye in half. Cye brought up his staff just in time to block it catching it directly in the middle of his own staff. For a moment, their faces were quite close together, Cye chuckled under his breath. "You're not that bad actually."

Shin smiled back, "You're not half bad yourself."

"Thanks for the compliment." Cye said as he spun away.

From the viewpoint everyone else had, the intricate steps and slashes seemed like a dance. The blocks, thrusts, and parries all part of some graceful choreography. Spinning out, dashing back in. Unfortunately, they were too well matched; neither was gaining any ground at all. "Come on Shin get out of there!" Shu hollered, "It's a tie, alright?"

"Coming." Shin shouted back stepping back and looking at the others, "it's a draw Cye."

His response came as a sharp jab in the ribs knocking him backwards. Shin looked up to see Cye standing over him. "Never let you guard down when there is an enemy around, you never know what might happen." Cye explained to him while helping him up.

"Alright." Shin said laughing as they crossed over to where the others were.

Cye took a drink out of one of the canteens then passed it to Shin who squirted some into his mouth and then poured a portion over his head, washing the sweat away, then he tossed back to Cye who promptly emptied the thing. "Who taught you to fight like that?" Ryo asked.

Shin shrugged, "My father did mostly, I guess three hundred years gave him plenty of time to come up with new techniques."

"I guess so" Ryo agreed faintly.

A flash of violet light suddenly appeared. "Ouch!" Sali exclaimed, clutching her left wrist. She glared at Shin, "What did you do that for?"

Shin looked surprised, "I didn't do anything the mark flashed on its own."

"It just hasn't done that for awhile" Sali said, "I don't know why it suddenly came to life now."

"What are you guys talking about?" Kento asked.

As if in answer Shin held out his right hand palm up, Ryudo, Reika, and Sali did the same, only Reika and Sali held out their left hands while Ryudo extended his right. Ryo, Rowen, Sage, Cye, Celena, and Mia leaned forward over Kento's shoulder to get a better look. On each palm was a strange silvery mark, almost like a symbol or a glyph. "What does it say?" Rowen frowned, he assumed it must be a new type of written language or else he would have been able to understand what the symbols meant.

"They mean 'true friends'" Shin explained, "We did this a long time ago."

_start flashback_

A four-year-old Reika sat in the shadows of the stables gloomily watching Seiji, Sakura, Shu, Nadeshiko, Touma, and Leeanna kicking a ball around. She was feeling very lonely; her father and most of her uncles were away on business, and she didn't have anyone to play with except for her loudmouth brother Ryudo and he didn't like to play with her very much. She wasn't very close to any of the boys or the girls they didn't like her very much, they called her a klutz most of the time since she was always falling down and breaking things. She sighed and watched as the ball was tossed back and forth between the other six children. She knew that they couldn't see her; Uncle Anubis had taught her how to hide in shadows, so no one could see her even if she did want to be seen, and she didn't. So that was why she was so surprised when Shin, Sali, and Ryudo sat down next to her. "Whatcha doin'?" Shin asked her, never looking at her, but staring at the other playing kids.

"Just watching." she sighed.

"Why not go play with them?" Sali asked simply.

Reika leaned her cheek into her fist, "Because they didn't invite me, and I don't want to ask."

"Why not?" Ryudo asked.

"Because I know that they don't like me too much."

"Why not?" he repeated.

"Because I'm a klutz." she replied moodily, that was the story of her life, she could never do anything without tripping or falling on her face.

"But their letting Leeanna play and she just as much a klutz as anyone." Shin sounded confused.

"That's because they were already friends with each other before they knew that about Leeanna." she said enviously, "She doesn't know how lucky she is to have friends."

"Why does that make her lucky?" Sali asked.

"Since she's friends with them she'll never have to be all by herself, I don't have friends and Ryudo here won't play with me so I'm always by myself."

"Hey I never play with you because you never ask me to." Ryudo said quietly.

"We're by ourselves most of the time to you know." Shin said.

Reika stared at him in surprise; these three were friends so why would they be in the same situation as her? "Yeah but you have the others to play with, the other girls don't like me too much so they won't play with me, and I don't have any friends since no one wants to be friends with a klutz like me." she lowered her chin to her hand, "I wish I had friends."

"We'll be your friends." Shin sounded a little more cheerful.

"Y-you will?" she could barely believe her ears.

"Yeah sure, you can be our friend we don't mind if you're a klutz Reika, you help us to laugh even when something bad had happened." Sali said, "so will you be our friend because they always say four heads are better than one."

"I'd love to!" Reika exclaimed, hugging her new friends.

"But Ryudo's my brother how can we be friends?" she asked.

"Sometimes even the best of friends are siblings in the first place it brings them closer together." Shin said.

Shin pulled out his dagger, even at ages of four and five they were aloud to carry small but sharp daggers, Shin held out his right hand and cut a symbol into his palm. He did the same to Sali and Ryudo cutting Sali on her left hand and Ryudo on his right. Reika didn't even think about it, she wanted friends so badly, she extended her left hand palm up, so he could scratch the word onto her as well, the dagger was so sharp she didn't even feel any kind of pain. "Let it bleed for a second and we can't let Uncle Sage heal it up, or else we won't have a scar, that's kinda the point" Shin smiled shyly. Reika nodded and looked down at her bleeding hand, making out the phrase written on it, 'true friends'. "So now we're really friends?" she asked hopefully.

"Yep" Shin brought his hand up and the other three did the same, their mingled blood ran down and dripped between them.

Then Shin and Sali started to talk, and it was very formal, almost like the words weren't coming from them. "We promise to guard and keep you safe, because you're our friends, fire and water can mix."

Then Reika and Ryudo started to speak as well, "We promise to guard and keep you safe because you're out friends and even friends need help sometimes."

The four of them grinned at each other and intertwined their fingers. All four felt a sudden surge of power and there was a bright flash of light, originating from their hands. It spilled between their fingers and they all shielded their eyes with their free arms. The light went from, intense ruby, to a bright yellow, then to a light blue color, and finally ending at a soft violet. The light faded and the four children looked at each other in surprise and alarm. "D-did you do that?" Reika asked Shin.

He swallowed hard, "We thought you did" he managed to answer.

The four stared at each other for a moment, an unspoken agreement passed between them not to tell anyone about the light, maybe about the blood bond, but not the light. Ryudo glanced at his palm and gasped, "Look!" he waved his hand at them, and Sali caught his wrist and peered at it. The cut had already scarred over, only the scar tissue was a strange silvery color, flashing the light around. She looked at her own palm then at Shin's and Reika's and saw an identical mark. "So, now what?" Reika asked them.

Shin smiled gently at her; "Now we go play" he said jerking his head back at the game of ball.

Leeanna, Sakura, and Nadeshiko were standing off to the side, looks of disgust on their faces as they watched the three boys wrestle on the ground over some imagined argument. "But won't they kick me out?" she sounded a little unsure.

"Nope" Sali shook her head, "they can't because you're our friend now, remember."

_end flashback_

"So ever since then, we've always been there for each other, no matter the danger" Shin explained.

"You should have seen Aunt Kayura's face when she saw those marks." Touma shook his head at the memory.

"She freaked out. We got chewed out for cutting ourselves." Sali sighed, "She thought we might have severed some tendons or something"

"What puzzled her was how it had scarred over so quickly" Ryudo said.

"Yeah and since that happened they've always been together, you could never find one without finding the other three with them." Touma said.

"Funny" Rowen murmured, "I would have thought that Shin and Shu would have been the best of friends, considering Cye and Kento, that is."

Shu came up between Ryudo and Reika and threw an arm over each of their shoulders, "We are the terrible quartet." he grinned evilly, "Reika, Ryudo, Sali, and I get into trouble and Shin gets us out"

Shin rolled his eyes, "Isn't that the truth!" he said sardonically, "oh the stories I could tell."

Among the snickers following that comment, the pounding of paws could be heard. Tannin and Kira came screeching in on Orion's back. "Reika!" Tannin cried, slipping off.

She fixed him with a glare, "Where's Graham?" she asked, her voice dangerous, "I thought I told you that he was allowed on Orion too"

"He didn't want to come this time honest!" Kira insisted.

"Okay I believe you. What did you want?"

Tannin looked up at her breathless, "You've got a visitor!" he gasped.

"Huh? Who?" she asked blankly.

"I don't know, Mom told me to find you and tell you that there's someone to see you" he clambered back up onto Orion, "so come on already, all of you."

Since not everyone could climb onto the backs of the two available tigers, the group of seventeen teens and two children walked at a pace of the slowest there. "Hmm" Sage looked thoughtful that whole time, like something was bothering him.

"What's wrong?" Rowen asked him.

"I was just wondering something about Ralon."

That got everyone's attention. "What about him?" Leeanna asked.

"I was wondering, no offense or anything, how did he turn out to be such a, well, brat and the rest of you didn't, I can't come up with an answer to that, and I'd like to keep it from happening."

Touma chuckled, "It's because he had a different, uh, nanny."

"Huh?" Celena frowned, "that doesn't make sense."

"It's because the rest of us were raised to be warriors" Seiji explained, "we were brought up to defend ourselves, he wasn't."

"Yeah, our parents were away an awful lot" Shu agreed, "he had a different babysitter than the rest of us, we had a weapon's instructor, and he had just a normal nanny."

"Unfortunately, that nanny spoiled him rotten" Caran said, somewhat sourly, he didn't like to talk about his brother's attitude.

"So why does he seem to despise Reika, Shin, Sali, and Sakura so much?" Mia asked curious.

Reika chuckled, "Because the tigers chose us instead of him."

"Uh, I think that deserves an explanation." Kento prompted.

"It's a pretty long story, and has very little to do with anything else, but Shin'll make it short." Shu offered.

"Me! Why me!" Shin frowned, "since when did I become the official story teller here, huh?"

"Oh just tell them and get it over with." Reika snapped, exasperated, "And make it quick, we're getting closer to the palace, if there's anyone there to meet with, then you'd better explain before we get there"

"Oh alright" Shin sounded angry, "it's because of the tigers..." he began, everyone slowed down their pace a little to hear the story. Maybe if they understood why Ralon was such a snob, they could avoid pushing the buttons that set him off. "You see, about every two years or so Iya and Blue Fire would come and stay with us for awhile, for as long as I can remember they'd been White Blaze's and Icoro's mates."

"Yeah, those four practically took tigers off the endangered species list." Shu snickered, but he quieted down after Shin shot him a frosty glare.

"Who's telling this story me or you?"

"Uh you."

"Then be quiet." Shin resumed the story, "So every two years they'd come back from a mission to have their kittens here, they'd stay a few months until the kittens got big enough to take care of themselves and them they'd take the kittens with them and leave, but one year White Blaze told us that whatever kittens they had would be staying with us"

"But how did you know?" Rowen raised an eyebrow.

"That's easily answered" Ryo chuckled, "White Blaze can talk remember?"

"Oh. Right."

"So Ralon, who by this time was already a spoiled brat" Shin continued, shooting an apologetic glace at his cousin, "insisted on having one of the cubs for his own."

"But when the time came for them to be born, there was a small problem" Touma interrupted.

"Geez, why don't you guys just tell this story!" Shin shouted.

"Okay we're quiet."

"The kittens had been turned around the wrong way inside of Iya and Blue Fire, and they were in danger of being strangled be the umbilical cord" he went on, "no one was skinny enough to reach in and fix the problem except for one of us kids, Ryudo, Touma, Leeanna, Seiji, Shu, Caran, and Nadeshiko were outside at the time and didn't even know this was going on, but Ralon was already there, since he'd been expecting to get one anyway, and Reika, Sakura, Sali, and I were there since we got along with them really well."

"So someone had to untangle the kittens, Ralon refused to reach in do it, so while Reika and Sakura helped Blue Fire, while Sali and I helped out Iya, soon the little things were out and alive." Shin finished.

"Yeah but Orion and Blaze were the only ones Blue Fire had and Ice and Iyanna were the only one Iya had, tigers don't usually give birth to more than four cubs but two is uncommon." Seiji reminded him.

"And the four of them wouldn't go with Ralon." Sali ended the story, "They wanted to be with us, so Ralon has hated us ever since"

"So Iya and Blue Fire have been staying here ever since?" Ryo asked.

"Yep, and they were quite happy about it too." Sakura said, "And so were Aunt Celena and my mom, they sure did miss Iya and Blue Fire while they were gone."

By this time they'd reached the palace, "Aunt Kayura said to wait in the family room." Kira told them.

The two little tiger riding children led them into a nice-sized room, the walls were lined with book shelves and a fireplace in one corner, comfortable looking oversized stuffed chairs were scattered here and there around the room. "Tannin, there's no one here." Leeanna frowned at her little brother.

"Aunt Kayura just told us to get you here and that this person was going to show up."

At that moment, the doors to the room were thrown open and a small, sand-yellow furred fox raced in. The only thing strange about the animal was the fact that it had more than your usual amount of tails, seven in fact. It ran across the room, making a beeline for Reika. Halfway there, the fox's outline began to blur and change. Everyone was forced to look away as his or her eyes began to tear over the effort of trying to focus on the thing. Then, where there had been a fox, there was now a short, slim girl, dashing towards Reika. Her hair was straight and chin-length, and was the same color as the fox's fur. She had dark skin, dusky colored, and twinkling green eyes. She was dressed entirely in black leather, and was festooned with so many daggers she was practically a walking armory. This wasn't too strange, except for the fact that she also had seven tails protruding from her clothing. "Reika!" she cried, throwing her arms around the girl, "it's about time you got back!"

Reika just chuckled and hugged the girl back, "It's not like I planned to be away for that long."

The girl stepped back and glared at her, "I should seriously hurt you for making me wait as long as I have." she said icily.

"Uh Reika?" Kento asked.

"Oh" the girl blinked and stepped aside, waving her hand at the fox/girl, "Guys this is Kitari" she introduced her friend.

Kitari smiled a vulpine grin, "You would be the Ronins Reika was sent to find right?"

"Uh right" Celena nodded.

"Well, I'm Kitari like she said, and in case you can't tell I'm a kitsune, you know a shape-shifting fox spirit."

To their amazement her outline bean to blur again and she was a fox once more, then she became a normal girl again, minus the tails, and then a humanoid fox, as in a huge fox, walking on its back paws and wearing the same clothes Kitari had been wearing a moment before, she blurred again into the form of the girl with the fox tails and grinned again. "Kitari has made it her life's pursuit to ruin our lives" Seiji said gloomily.

The girl winked at the others and patted Seiji's cheek consolingly, "Only yours, buddy, only yours."

He growled at her, "And why's that?"

She shrugged, "Oh I don't know blondie, maybe it's because you bug me."

His eyes flashed, "How many times have I told you not to call me that?"

She giggled, "Four thousand, five hundred eighty seven, well eighty eight now, but who's counting?"

"I can't win." Seiji moaned.

"Ignore them." Touma said dryly, "They really do like each other a lot" he ignored the looks of death the two sent him.

"Kitari's also our chief, uh, espionage specialist." Shin told them.

The kitsune giggled and smiled at him, "You are such an innocent, Shin, why don't' you just call me a spy and get it over with?"

He blushed a little and was saved be Reika. "So, what's the news then? Why did you want to talk to me?"

Kitari looked uncomfortable, "Well, Rei, it's got to do with what I saw on my latest venture out into the city, I think you better take a seat, all of you." she turned to Tannin and Kira, "you'd better leave."

The twins blinked and nodded, slipping from the room and taking Orion with them. Struck by the severity in her tone, everyone sank into a chair. Kitari crossed over to the cheerily burning fireplace and leaned against it, she suddenly looked very tired, tired and sad. "I'm sure that you must have seen one of those terrible massacres on your way in Rei." she said.

"Massacres?" Shu frowned, "What do you mean?"

"When we arrived in the city, we saw them." Kento nodded.

"They're like huge piles of slaughtered people." Cye said in a quiet voice, "Their throats were cut, there's blood everywhere on the ground."

The children went very pale, Reika swallowed hard. "Yes Kit we saw them, what about it?" her voice was shaky, like she didn't want to know the answer.

Kitari took a deep breath, "My patrol and I stumbled across one of them being built". The sound of gasps filled the air as she paused for breath. "You see, we discovered that, like most Dynasty demons, this one draws its power form human suffering, but unlike most of these demons it takes it sustenance form death energy and death suffering."

"Death energy?" Rowen frowned.

"Yes, you see, we've discovered that human life contains a great deal of energy, and it is violently released by death, the more painful, violent, and drawn out the killing is the more energy is released."

"So you're saying that the people the Dynasty captured are being slaughtered as a power source!" Sage demanded outraged.

"That's exactly what I'm saying." Kitari said solemnly, "One of my men was captured by the soldiers, I saw what cruelties they are capable of" she squeezed her eyes shut against the painful memory, "poor Youko (snicker sorry had to do this one), I couldn't even end his misery."

Reika stood and laid and hand on her friend's shoulder, "When this is over, everyone who perished will be given the respect they deserve."

Kitari wiped her eyes, "I guess that's the best we can do for them now."

"Have you told our parents of this Kit?" Seiji asked.

She nodded, "Of course I did. They suggested that you might like to know, but that you shouldn't do anything rash about it."

"Yes, rushing off into things never got anybody anywhere" a soft voice came from the door. They all turned to see two people standing there. They entered and closed the door behind them. One of them was a tall slim girl, she had long hair that fell to her waist, in color it was a pale green and wound through with vines, leaves, and wildflowers, she wore a thigh length dress which also appeared to be made of interwoven vines and leaves and she had emerald green eyes. The other person was as the same height as the girl. He had long sky blue hair that fell to his shoulders, he wore flowing robes that looked like they were made of water, and he had sapphire blue eyes. "This is Willa and Lark guys" Reika introduced the girl and boy, "they're two of Kitari's team members and good friends of mine"

"Willa and Lark hmmm?" Kento murmured, "if I may ask, why are you green and blue?"

Cye elbowed Kento in the side, appalled at his rudeness, "KENTO!" he hissed, "please forgive him; he's got a big mouth"

Willa giggled slightly, "That's alright, we're used to it"

"Willa's a tree nymph," Reika explained, "a tree spirit, as opposed to Lark who's a dryad, a water spirit."

"Yeah, they live in the willow tree and the lake behind the palace, that's why we call them Willa and Lark." Kitai said, "Their real names are too hard for us to pronounce."

"What's going on Willa, Lark, you never come into the castle." Touma crossed his arms over his chest, puzzled at their unusual behavior.

Both of them exchanged a glance, "It's not safe outside any longer." Willa said in a hushed voice, "as much as we dislike being unable to go to our tree and lake, we must stay here for a short while."

Lark turned to Reika, "Rei, you're needed in the nursery, Sonya's having nightmares again."

Reika sighed and got to her feet, "I'll take care of this and be right back" she said.

"I'll go with you." Shin said and both left the room.

"Does Sonya get these nightmares often?" Cye asked.

Lark sounded serious, "Yes, the poor thing, often the only way she can get to sleep at night is to have Reika put a soothing image into her mind"

Kitari made a face, "Yeah, the little kid's been the source of so many sleepless nights it's not even funny"

Rowen, the strategist of the group, turned to Kitari, "You said the Dynasty is killing all these people, how long do you think it will take them to slaughter everyone they've captured?"

Kitari looked thoughtful, "Well, they get more energy if they torture the person first, and that takes time, but at the rate they were going, and considering that they've already caught three fourths of the city's population, probably only about another week"

"Darn" Ryo said softly, "that's not much time is it?"

"My father did say that you were all leaving to attack tomorrow" Seiji reminded them.

"How much energy do you think they've gathered from all those deaths?" Sali asked quietly.

Everyone looked at her, they'd forgotten about that part. "I don't know" Kitari mused, "a lot though, Youko's death alone gave them a ton of energy." her face saddened, "I saw the amount displace, it was terrible, but maybe his death gave off a large amount of energy because he was a kitsune, I just don't know."

She looked up in surprise when Seiji covered her hand with his, "We'll get revenge for him, don't worry about it."

"Don't let revenge cloud your thinking." Willa cautioned them.

Sage turned to look at Rowen, who was deep in thought, "Alright Ro, you've been really quiet lately, I want to know what's going on inside that blue head of yours."

Rowen blinked at him and opened his mouth to answer, when two screams split the air around them. "AAAARRRGGGGHHHHHHHHH!" it was Reika's and Shin's voices, screams of both pain and terror.

"REIKA, SHIN!" everyone shouted, bolting up out of their seats and out the door.

**SSSSSSSSS**

Reika and Shin had entered the nursery and made their way over to Sonya's crib. Tannin and Kira had obviously retreated to the room as well after Kitari had banished them from the meeting, and were coloring something over against the right wall, beneath a table. Graham sat in one corner playing with a brightly colored ball. Orion, and Blaze were lounging near the toddler, pushing the ball back whenever it rolled out of the little boy's reach, while Ice and Iyanna sat near them. The nanny was nowhere in sight. "Hey little sis" Shin greeted the cranky infant.

"Having another nightmare are we? Let me take a look." Reika reached down and brushed her fingers gently across the baby's forehead.

_**Dream sequence**_

A terrible image filled her mind. She saw red skies, rivers of blood and Dynasty soldiers rampaging across the land, pillaging and burning as they went, killing so many people the oceans ran crimson with blood. She saw briefly the broken and shattered bodies of her family and friends, a baby's cry split the still air, mixing in with the roar of soldiers and the screams of innocents.

_**Dream sequence**_

Reika snatched her hand back with a gasp. Where had that come from? How could Sonya be seeing those things? It was just terrible. Tannin and Kira shot her strange looks while Graham played, oblivious off in his corner.

"Ssshhh" she murmured comfortingly, still touching the baby's forehead. She began to project soothing images of forests and animals, those always seemed to work before, and they did now as well. A sudden growl from behind them caused Reika and Shin to spin around, surprised. Why were the tigers growling? Had Graham been pulling their whiskers again? Reika stifled a scream as the door exploded inward off its hinges in a shower of splinters. As the dust cleared, the outline of a Dynasty soldier could be seen silhouetted in the doorframe. It growled menacingly and advanced upon them, waving two spears threateningly.

"The children and the ocean eyed one." it hissed, and it reminded them of the thing that had almost killed Shin's father. Reika could just make out the forms of many others behind it. For a moment both she and Shin were frozen in fear, then their minds snapped back into working order.

"Iyanna, Blaze, watch the littles!" Shin shouted as Orion and Ice stood beside him and Reika. Iyanna crashed backwards, tipping the crib over, while Blaze herded Tannin, Kira, and Graham underneath it to be with Sonya. Reika looked around them desperately. Darn, this is a nursery! There were no sharp implements; that was the point. She grabbed two large arm-length splinters from the door and tossed one to Shin.

"You'll have to go through us to get to them!" She glared at it, eyes flashing dangerously. To their surprise, the thing only nodded. Then it moved with blinding speed and stabbed them with the two spears it was carrying right into their sides. That was when they screamed. Through a pain-filled-haze, Reika manage to bring the shard of wood up to keep the thing from splitting her head wide open like a ripe melon. Unfortunately, her makeshift weapon shattered, Shin tried to do the same thing but his shattered as well. Both looked at each other, and came to the same conclusion they would have to get those weapons out of the things grasp. So both reached out and wrenched the spears from its metallic grip. "All right, now we can do some damage!" Reika said. Then the things rushed into the room and they realized just how many there were. There had to have been over two dozen.

"We're screwed" Shin said.

**SSSSSSSSS**

Ryo, Rowen, Sage, Cye, Kento, Celena, Mia, the children, Kitari, Willa, Lark, and White Blaze ran into the other Ronins, the Mystics, the Dark Warlords, and Lady Kayura halfway to the nursery. "You heard it too?" Anubis panted. Everyone nodded, breathing too hard to answer, there were so many stairs in this place! "Th-the nursery!" Touma managed to gasp out. The much-enlarged group continued up the stairs to the nursery tower at mock five. Unfortunately, there were too many of them to fit through the door, and the fact that those in the front were too shocked by the sight to move, well, that didn't help much. Ryo, Cye, Touma, and Kitari had been in the lead, and they came to a screeching halt. Reika was standing, knock-kneed, amid a roomful of smoking slag and discarded weaponry. She was leaning forward, held up only by her grip on a spear she'd obviously ripped from one of the soldiers. Her body was in shreds, bleeding from a few dozen places at least, and her clothes were held up only by a few strategic strands. Her hair had fallen over her face, obscuring the left side; even that fall of ebony was matted and sticky with blood. They found Shin on the ground his head propped up by Ice sitting behind him. He didn't look as bad as Reika, but he had deeper cuts and a bad wound in his side that was bleeding badly and his auburn hair had been darkened by the blood. Orion and Ice were covered in cuts from head to toe and their fur stained with blood as well. Reika looked up at the crowd in the doorway as if expecting more soldiers. Her blank eyes flickered a little with recognition. "R-Ryo?" she asked, her voice slurred over in exhaustion, "I-uhhh" her grip slipped and she fell over to land with a sickening crunch in the metal shards. "REIKA!" Touma shouldered past Ryo, and a stunned Kitari to kneel beside the girl as Cye kneeled by Shin. Both were out cold and Reika's eyes were rolled back in her head. "Move over!" someone shouted from the back of the crowd. Both Sages, Cye's counterpart and Kayura make their way through. Kayura waved the staff one the smoking armors disappeared. Ryo noted absently that the older Sage was in full armor; he knelt beside Reika and began to glow. "The babies!" Celena (the elder one) shrieked, "where's my baby!" White Blaze slipped through the legs of the gathered people and over to the upturned crib. He nosed at it and heard a questioning rumble from beneath it. Blaze and Iyanna burst out from under the cage-like crib, hackles raised teeth bared. The four little children were huddled behind them sobbing. Kira had her face buried in her brother's chest. Tannin was trying to keep a brave look on his face, while clutching his sister to him, his other arm protectively around Graham's shoulders. The three-year-old was holding Sonya against him, shielding the little child form any harm. A collective sigh of relief went up from the mothers. Tannin, realizing that he and his friends were safe now, loosened his death-grip on the other children and leapt straight into his mother's arms, drawing Kira after him. "I was so worried." Lee sobbed, shocking the past Ronins, Lee sobbing? Graham solemnly handed Sonya to his Aunt and then ran to his mother and started to cry. Tannin suddenly pulled his face out of his mother's arms and stared at her in horror. "Reika, Shin what happened?" he demanded, sounding much older, for some reason, "Are they okay?"

Cye nodded from where he was sitting beside Shin, "He's lost a lot of blood, but he'll be alright after he's had some rest"

Celena sighed, "I'm glad to here that"

Cye's counterpart nodded in agreement. Then all eyes turned back to where Sage was leaning over Reika's still form. The green slow intensified to eye-watering brightness. All of Reika's wounds began to glow bright green, sealing together with a small burst of light. The terrible gash in her side stitched together, and the blood stopped running. The skin was smooth and scar-less underneath the rent in her clothes. She groaned softly and frowned, trying to pull away form the elder Kento, who was holding her down by her arms. Tranquility flared to life on her forehead, and she calmed down, accepting the healing. A flash of light-blue light suddenly appeared from where Cye was healing Shin. A light-blue star mark appeared and then disappeared as quickly as it had come. "What the heck was that?" Sali asked surprised.

"I don't know." Cye lied, not wanting to tell her what it was since she didn't know in the first place what it was. Both Celena and Cye's counterparts looked at each other. Celena shrugged not knowing why that had happened. Then a rasping coughing noise came from Reika's direction, diverting their thoughts about what just happened. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked up at the crowd of people looming over her. "Wha-?" She breathed, "Wh-Where'd they all go?"

"You defeated them Rei." Willa said gently, "They were piles of junk when we got here"

"And T-tan and K-ki?"

At least everyone understood what she was trying to say. "They're fine, see?" Kahlan leaned over, still holding Graham to her. Orion padded up to the girl and licked dried blood off her face. The cuts were healed but she had lost a lot of blood like Shin. "Everyone's alright." he said, licking her face again, "Me included, man that hurt!" Reika managed a weak smile.

"Enough all of you." Kitari intervened, "Can't you see that she's in terrible shape?" she sounded very angry.

"Yes go to sleep Rei" Willa laid a cool hand on Reika's fevered brow, and she felt her eyes grow heavy. Sleep, a voice whispered into her mind, and Reika had to listen to it. Ryo watched as her whole body went limp again. He looked around the room, it was literally trashed. The walls were cut up terribly, picture frames were slashed, the crib had been shattered and the door was practically non-existent. The floor was littered with the remains of furniture and other things that were now unrecognizable. It was no wonder Reika and Shin were in such bad shape. How they'd been able to keep those things away form the little kids was beyond him. "Will they be okay?" Tannin sounded like he was about to cry, in fact tears were pouring down his face.

"They'll be fine, they just need time to sleep for a while" Kitari said comfortingly, "Rei and Shin just need to sleep so there bodies can recuperate."

"R-recuperate?" Tannin stammered.

"Get better." Touma said, hugging his little brother.

"Oh."

"We should get them back to their rooms, and then get this mess cleaned up" Rajura said quietly.

"I'll take Reika." Ryo volunteered and without a word Cye (the younger one) picked Shin up and started to the door. Then he and everyone else looked up when someone cleared his/her throat in the doorway. A young woman stood in the doorway. She had long silver hair with violet streaks, she wore long, flowing dusk colored robes, and she had lavender eyes. "What happened here?" she gasped.

"Apparently the castle wasn't as safe as we thought, Iyaria." the elder Cye said, turning to the woman. Iyaria's hands flew to her mouth as she caught sight of the damage and Reika and Shin's sleeping forms. "Don't worry Iya, they'll be alright." Celena reassured her old friend. Ryo (the younger one) made his way over to Reika and gently picked her up, "Cye, would you mind telling me where her room is?" he asked. Cye (the younger one) blinked but nodded, no one stood in the way as the two left the room with Shin and Reika. "What do you think that was all about?" Kayura mused.

"No idea at all." the elder Rowen said.

Cye waited outside as Ryo put Reika in her room. "Hmmm, you were right Cye her room is about the size of ours." Ryo said as he closed the door.

"Yeah, but so is Shin's room, its through there." Cye answered.

Ryo opened the door to the room. Being careful not to jar Shin awake Cye set him gently down on his bed. Ryo came up behind him and pulled the covers up over Shin's shoulders. He sat down beside the boy and smoothed some of the hair off his brow. "I can't believe between him and Reika, they caused all that damage." he murmured.

Cye shrugged and sat down next to him, "I'd like to know how those creeps got into the palace. I thought it was safe here."

Ryo just shrugged, "I'm not sure, but one thing's for certain no one is going to be getting much sleep tonight."

Cye nodded at the truth in his statement and stayed seated as Ryo stood and walked back over to the door. He was about to follow, when he felt a hand grab his wrist. Blinking in surprise, Cye turned back to see, it was Shin, though he was still out cold. "Don't leave me" he muttered in his sleep, "please father, I don't want to be alone anymore."

Ryo and Cye exchanged surprised glances and Cye tried to pry Shin's hands off his wrist, it wasn't much good though, he was just a little too strong. The only way to get him to let go would be if Shin did it himself. So Cye stopped trying to break that grip and decided to make Shin let go. "It's okay Shin" Cye whispered in his ear, "I'm not going anywhere, I'll be here when you wake up." It actually worked! Shin's hand went limp and he rolled over, sighing in contentment, a small smile on his face. "Hmmm." Ryo mused quietly, "I guess he thought you were…"

"Don't say it!" Cye held up a hand, "Just don't!"

Ryo shrugged and they both left the room. There was a lot of cleaning up to be done, as well as some questions to be asked.

**TBC...**

**Author's Note:** Well there's your gift now give me mine in the form of... reviews! You don't have to review if you don't want to but I welcome and comments or complains you might have. Well gotta go. Ja ne.


	5. Author's Note

**Authors note:** okay everyone I know you're having trouble keeping up with the kids so please just focus one the Ronin and Mystical kids (the oldest) they're the ones we'll mostly focus on for the future people (after this chapter) in this story. To refresh your memory the Ronin kids they are:

Sage and Saphrita kids: Sakura and Seiji

Cye and Celena kids: Sali and Shin

Kahlan and Kento kids: Nadeshiko and Shu

Ryo and Mia kids: Ryudo and Reika

Leechiana (Lee) and Rowen kids: Leeanna and Touma

So that'll make things easier for you. I'm really sorry about the headaches I'm probably giving you but it isn't all my fault my friends, SouriMaxwellYue068 and HieisSoulmateIsKagome, are helping me with this and as a group we decided that we should have that many kids. Also here's a little interesting fact: Saphrita, Lee, Celena, and Kahlan are based on me and my friends. Saphrita is SouriMaxwellYue068, Lee our friend Mandy, Celena is me, and Kahlan is HieisSoulmateIsKagome. Well hope you will keep on reading because some romance between the kids (as I like to call the oldest Ronin children of the future) is going to happen soon. Well gotta go. Ja ne.


	6. Chapter 5

**Rating: **T

**Pairings:** Future selves: RyoxMia, CyexCelena, KentoxKahlan, RowenxLee, and SagexSaphrita. Past Selves: CyexCelena and RyoxMia. Kids: None yet.

**Disclaimer:** I only own the RW DVDs and my OCs, my friends own their OCs

**SSSSSSSSS **scene change

_italics_ telepathy

"yap yap yap" talk

'yap yap yap' thoughts

**Past**

**Meets**

**Future **

**Chapter 5**

Reika awoke from a dream of blood and weapons with a gasp. Her eyes darted around the room, trying to remember how she'd gotten there. She remembered the fight with Shin against all those soldiers, Aunt Kalhan telling her that the children were safe, and then a voice commanding her to sleep. Reika realized that she'd been tossing in her sleep; her sheets were tangled around her legs and lower body. They were soaked with sweat and …tears? She brushed her hand against her cheek and realized that she had been crying. Reika buried her face in them, taking in deep breaths. That dream. She had to open her eyes again; she could see it playing out again against her closed eyelids. It was Sonya's dream again; the one she'd seen and banished, giving the infant some rest.

'I wish I could do the same for myself' Reika thought.

But why would she be having that dream? It didn't make sense, and where would Sonya have seen or heard something to give her nightmares like that? Unless…unless it wasn't a dream! Reika sat up straight in shock. They didn't know what Sonya's 'talent' was. What if the baby was clairvoyant? What if she could see or predict the future?

"I've got to tell the guys" she murmured to herself.

Reika was pretty sure that she'd find them all in Seiji's room, since it was the cleanest out of all of them. Slipping out of bed, she realized she was still wearing the clothes she had been in inside the nursery, and they were in pretty bad shape. So she shucked them off and slipped into a clean nightshirt, tugging a robe on over it and belting it at her waist. Fortunately, the guys' rooms were all adjacent to one another, and were just down the hall from hers. It was fairly easy to slip out of her room and into the hall without being spotted. About halfway there she heard footsteps coming toward her. She franticly looked for a place to hide. Then someone grabbed her from behind, covering her mouth with their hand and pulled her into a doorway. "Shhh, be quiet" said the person. Reika quieted and saw a guard pass by the doorway, without seeing them.

'I guess the attack on the nursery was enough to put everyone back on their toes' she thought. Reika found that a hand was still covering her mouth, she bit down on it, hard.

"Oww, what did you do that for!" the person said, trying to keep their voice low, "is that what I get for keeping you from getting caught?"

Reika turned and saw that the person she had bitten was Shin.

"Oh, sorry I didn't know it was you, you startled be by grabbing me like that" Reika told him.

"Well I'm sorry but I didn't have time to say anything, they've put up a lot more guards since what happened in the nursery" Shin said in exasperation, "are you heading down to Seiji's room?"

Reika nodded, "Yes I am, but we have to be careful"

"I think we can go now no ones coming" Shin said, and with Reika behind him they ran as quietly as they could the rest of the way.

**SSSSSSSSS**

When they drew up to Seiji's room, they pressed their ears against the smooth wood, sure enough; they could make out nine separate voices.

"But why wouldn't Sage and Cye help your dad's heal Rei and Shin?" Touma was saying, "I don't understand, it would have been a lot easier on your old man"

"Sage told me it was because the Dynasty could have sensed two identical armors, that would have been a dead give away that they're here and we can't afford that, the past Ronins are out ace in the hole" Seiji explained patiently.

"I guess that makes sense" Caran agreed.

"What I want to know is how those trash cans got into the nursery!" Shu raged, sounding like he wanted to plant his fist in someone's face, "Tannin, Kira, Graham, and Sonya would have been killed if Reika and Shin hadn't been there!"

"Hmmm" Sali's voice came, "why do you suppose they were, after all Reika was called up to take care of Sonya's nightmare, and Shin did go with her but isn't that a little too coincidental?"

"We wanted to talk to you about that." Reika said quietly, opening the door, stepping in with Shin behind her, she shut the door with a quiet click behind them.

"Rei, Shin?" Ryudo blinked.

"You should be resting." Sakura chided them.

"We're fine, I had this nightmare, and it must have woken Shin up when I yelled." she confessed.

"Aren't you a little old to come running to us after nightmares?" Shu joked.

Reika chuckled a little and took a seat on the floor, in front of the couch while Shin sat behind her. Reika leaned back into it and closed her eyes for a second. "Maybe so but I thought there was something about this one that you should know."

"Oh really, and why's that?" Leeanna asked questioningly.

Reika opened her eyes again and surveyed them, wondering how they'd take her theory. Shu had a good point; she was kind of old to let nightmares scare her into looking to them for comfort. But Reika had been doing that since Shin, Sali, and her brother Ryudo had accepted her as their friend. They'd always helped her laugh away those childish dreams, but this one was anything but, and if her notion was correct, then everyone needed to know. "When I was taking care of Sonya, I saw the dream she was having, it was terrible, full of blood and those soldier things" Reika paused for a second to shudder, "I banished the thing, but then, just now, I had the same dream, and I was thinking that maybe it's something more than a dream."

"You mean Sonya could have clairvoyance?" Nadeshiko asked surprised.

"She can't have clairvoyance because mother and father would have noticed!" Sali exclaimed, not noticing that Sakura and Shin exchanged a glance.

"So am I, well sort of." Sakura said. The others stared at her.

"I can see the future and predict it, but I can't see the future through dreams or anything like that."

"Well at least you're the only one in the room who can do that." Shu said relived.

"She's not the only one." Shin said quietly. The others stared at him.

"Shin you don't mean you're…" Sali's voice trailed off. Shin nodded in answer.

"You're clairvoyant!" Seiji exclaimed. Shu practically fell off the couch onto his face at this news.

"Yes I am." Shin said quietly.

"But why didn't you tell us?" Ryudo asked.

"Look, we had enough going on without you worrying about me just because I have clairvoyance" Shin said his voice calm.

"But is it the same as Sonya's clairvoyance?" Sali asked, quite surprised at the news as anyone else, she just didn't slam her face into the floor.

"No, according to what dad told me, he thinks Sonya may have the form of clairvoyance like his grandfather had" Shin explained, "it affected him more when he was a baby and when he was about fifteen the clairvoyance disappeared, when I'm like my father, I have clairvoyance for life."

"And it won't do any good telling them about Sonya" Caran reminded them, "they've been locked up in the den plotting for hours now."

"Plotting?" Reika giggled.

"What else would you call it?"

"All of the Ronins are leaving for the Dynasty tomorrow." Leeanna mused, "I think they're getting Aunt Kayura to open some sort of portal, but she and the Warlords are staying here in case those creeps try something while our dads are away"

"Wow you eavesdropping skills are improving." Touma chuckled.

"I wasn't eavesdropping," Leeanna said indignantly, "it's just common sense."

"Common sense huh?" Nadeshiko bit back a laugh.

"We should be ready too" Ryudo mused, "just in case, after all, there's only so much one of those armors can do, it's easy to be overwhelmed."

"Don't we know" Reika said sardonically, exchanging a glance with Shin. The others all grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry, guys" Touma began, "we…"

"Ah, don't worry about it, it's no big deal."

"We'd better stick together until this is over" Ryudo sounded serious, "and if you have anymore dreams, tell us Rei."

"I guess I'd better make myself comfortable then," she replied, "it's going to be a loooooongg night."

**SSSSSSSSS**

The 'den' was a scene of mass chaos. Everyone who had been in on the planning session was sprawled somewhere in the room; some in chairs, others with their heads sown on the table, and a few on the floor. The Ancient's Staff had been leaning against the wall, once again whole after Reika had returned the wing emblem to Kayura. Basically, after all the hours of trying to put together a plan, the best either set of Ronins and the Warlords could come up with wasn't much. Kayura would get them into the Dynasty (how, she wouldn't say) and they'd all have to improvise from there. "That's it?" Kitari had exclaimed, "that's our plan, that's the best we can do, that's ridiculous!"

"We don't know what to expect when we get there" Ryo reminded her, "they could throw anything at us, the best we can do is try to expect everything."

"Whoa, since when are you the one to actually think about a battle?" Rowen had gasped.

But that was the best they could do. The truly sad thing was that it had taken them four hours to come up with it. Now they were all feeling the aftershock of too much talking and too little sleep. Nothing short of an earthquake would have woken them up. And those earthquakes' names were Tannin and Kira. "Come ON!" Kira squealed, shaking her father's shoulder energetically, "you gotta get up it's today!" Closely following the children were four people. One they recognized as Iyaria or Iya as she was normally called. The other woman had a sort of amazoness look to her and she had black hair with dark blue streaks in it and soft brown eyes. One of the men had silver hair with light-blue streaks, he wore flowing light-blue robes that looked like they were made of water, and he had green eyes. The other man had black hair with white streaks, he wore a white long-sleeved shirt, with white pants and shoes, and he had dark brown eyes. "Ugh, what's today?" Kento mumbled, awakened by her voice.

"Today we leave, and take care of those creeps." Sage reminded him, he was always up with the sun, even when it was blocked by grayish clouds.

"We should probably wake the children" Iyaria smiled, helping Celena (the elder one) to her feet, "I'm sure they'll want to see this."

"You're right they probably will." she agreed.

Unseen by everyone else, Mia, Kayura, both Rowens and both Cyes exchanged a glance and a smirk. They'd been holding their own little conferences, and they thought they had a solution to the problem with the missing amulets. "Small problem there." the silver haired man commented, scanning the room with a raised eyebrow, it looked as if a miniature hurricane had attacked, "Neither Reika nor Shin are in their rooms, I checked, their gone."

"You don't think there was another attack, do you?" Cye gasped.

"They're probably already awake Icoro" Kayura said to the man, "they're both early risers, they're more than likely just pacing around the grounds."

"That's not safe, not with that outside." Ryo made a face.

"I'm sure they're fine" Mia said, "we'd better go get the children unless you want to have to explain to them why you left without saying goodbye."

"We're going, we're going" the older Sage chuckled, he'd had learned over the years not to mess with Mia.

"If I know them, they'll probably all be camping out in one of their rooms" the black haired man, obviously White Blaze's future self, mused.

"Seiji's" everyone else chorused.

"Why's that?" Rowen wanted to know.

"Because everything else is a hazard zone" his counterpart chuckled.

Kayura grabbed the Staff of the Ancients from its position against the wall. The Staff was the key to getting the Ronins to the Dynasty's stronghold in the clouds.

**SSSSSSSSS**

Fortunately, the rooms and the den were fairly close together. It seemed that part of the castle was officially roped off into living quarters for those who actually lived there, as opposed to the visiting emissaries. "Aw, now that's cute!" Kento snickered at the scene behind the door to Seiji's room. All eleven teens were curled up on various pieces of the furniture. On one of the couches were Shin and Shu. The latter was hanging over one of the arms of the sofa, snoring, but not as loud as his father was prone to. Shin had been sleeping in a ball with his knees drawn up to his chest, face hidden in his arms, but had woken up to the sound of the door opening. Touma, Ryudo, Caran, and Sali were spread out on the floor. Seiji was on the love seat, in a sitting up position, his chin to his chest, while Reika was wrapped up in a blanket her head in his lap. Leeanna, Sakura, and Nadeshiko were sprawled out on the L-shaped couch opposite the couch that Shin and Shu were on. "Well, at least we know where they got to" Mia said.

"Wakey, wakey!" Kira giggled running in and bouncing up and down on her brother's stomach.

"Oof!" there was a rush of breath as the air was forcibly pushed from Touma's lungs.

"Kira, back off" Ryudo grumbled, getting up from the floor.

Still giggling, the little girl clambered off her brother and over to Shu, who she proceeded to shake awake. "Ugh, tarantula? What tarantula?" he mumbled, before sitting up straight. He blinked groggily at the stifled chuckles he heard.

"Wha-? What did I say?"

Shin looked at his friend and smiled, "Remember the spider incident?" he asked.

"I told you it wasn't me!" Shu waved his hands frantically.

"Right" came Leeanna's voice, since Kira had proceeded to wake her and the others, and was having a little trouble getting Sali to wake up.

"Come on Sali wake up!" Kira said. Sali grumbled and just rolled over. Shin shook his head and walked over to his sister and prodded her with his foot.

"Ugh, five more minutes" Sali grumbled.

Shin sighed, "Saliana get up this minute!" he said loudly.

Sali sat straight up, "What, what did I do now?" she said looking around.

"Hmmm, so her real name is Saliana, it had a pleasant ring to it" Celena thought to herself. Then she saw her brother standing next to her.

Sali growled and stood up, "Shin how many times do I have to tell you not to call me by my real name unless I'm in trouble!" she shouted.

"Well, you were going to be in trouble if you didn't get up right away, does that count?" Shin said calmly. Sali looked like she wanted to strangle something.

"Come on you guys quit fighting and let's go" Anubis said entering the room, "we need to get moving before that break in the clouds is covered, we're banking this whole thing on that rift"

"Coming!" they all exclaimed, shooting out the door.

Reika, and Shin were still wearing their nightshirts and robes, and the others were rubbing sleep from their eyes. "Told you they'd want to see you off." Iya said smugly.

**SSSSSSSSS**

The group made their way out into the courtyard. Sonya and Graham were the only one's missing. Orion was there though, walking along side White Blaze (the past one). All the tigers had mysteriously disappeared the night before. Reika, Tannin, and Kira were all rode on Orion, while Kitari, Willa, and Lark were perched on White Blaze who didn't seem to mind at all. They walked until they stood under that one beam of watered down sunlight, which lanced down from a break in the grayish clouds. "Kayura?" Naaza turned to the blue haired woman. She nodded grimly and tightened her grip on the Staff.

"We should get into out sub-armor at least." Ryo (the younger one) reminded the others, donning his own. They all nodded and in a flash, Rowen, Cye, Kento, and Sage (the ones from the past) stood ready as well.

"You guys coming?" Rowen turned to their doubles. They exchanged a glance and then shook their heads.

"No, as much as I hate to say it, we're needed here" Sage sighed, shaking his head.

"Aww, come on, we need the help" Kento begged.

"You will have it" Cye nodded, "but first…" he turned and beckoned to Shin and Sali. The children looked confused but stepped forward; the other children did so too.

"What is it father?" Shu asked his dad. The elder Kento grinned at his son.

"Even though we haven't outlived out usefulness as Ronin Warriors we're needed here, and you guys can be of a lot more help to them then us"

Seiji gasped, "You can't mean…?"

Sage merely nodded and, as one, the ten older Ronins began to glow. The outlines of their armors appeared around them, and the mixed colors of ruby, sapphire, emerald, turquoise, topaz, gold, granite, lapis lazuli, amethyst, and rose grew so bright that everyone had to shield their eyes.

"**ARMOR OF WILDFIRE, DAO JIN!"**

"**ARMOR OF STRATA, DAO INOCHI!"**

"**ARMOR OF HALO, DAO CHI!"**

"**ARMOR OF TORRENT, DAO SHIN!"**

"**ARMOR OF HARDROCK, DAO GI!" **

"**ARMOR OF STARS, DAO KIN!"**

"**ARMOR OF DARKNESS, DAO NACHI!" **

"**ARMOR OF JEWELS, DAO SHI!"**

"**ARMOR OF ALTER, DAO CHIN!"**

"**ARMOR OF LOVE, DAO JI!"**

A startled cry broke the air as everyone attempted to rub the purple spots out of their vision. Caran gasped in shock at his cousins and their friends. "My GOD! Y-you're!" he couldn't even say it, and everyone else was far too stunned to finish his sentence for him. Ryudo, Reika, Touma, Leeanna, Seiji, Sakura, Shin, Sali, Shu, and Nadeshiko were sprawled on the cobblestones, each of them holding their heads dazedly. Seiji blinked rapidly to clear away the fog that seemed to be filling his head and then looked down at himself. "HOLY!" he shouted, leaping to his feet. For instead of the simple green tunic he'd been wearing, he instead was clad in the emerald and white sub-armor of the Halo armor! "Oh my…" Shin said in a small voice holding his armored hands out in front of his face, staring in shock at them.

"But dad!" Touma stared in shock at his father, "without the armor won't you…"

"Age?" Rowen suggested mildly. At his son's sudden nod he just chuckled.

"We've been alive for hundreds of years and did you forget that we're immortal because of the armors so even though we don't posses them we still have immortality, we're not going anywhere"

Cye nodded in agreement.

"So, I guess we're going with you then?" Shu asked Ryo and the others.

"It appears that way" the past Sage nodded. Reika looked from herself and the others to the past Ronins seeing only one difference between the all of them.

"Wait a minute, what about the amulets?" she asked Kayura.

"You'll have the chance to use them" Kayura said in an amused tone. She, Mia, both Rowens and both Cyes smirked a little.

"Why?" the elder Kento asked suspiciously, "what do you mean, what are you guys hiding?"

"We were discussing Rowen's theory on why the amulets disappeared in the first place" Mia began to explain, "we think we may have an idea as to why that is" she gestured for Rowen to continue.

The warrior of Strata just shrugged, "Well, I thought it might have to do with her touching the wrong one"

"That doesn't make any sense" Kento muttered.

Rowen rolled his eyes "The point is…"

"I was wondering if there was one" Kento grumbled. Sage reached over and whacked him upside the head, effectively shutting him up.

"Well, you know how the armors and the amulets are connected" Rowen said.

Celena nodded, "That's right, each armor has its own amulet, which can be used, if the armors can't because they have the same powers" she explained.

"Exactly" Rowen nodded, "Reika, do you remember which one of the amulets you touched?"

"Yes it was the…oh my" Reika's voice trailed off.

"You touched the Wildfire amulet right" Rowen asked. Reika nodded in answer.

"This still doesn't make sense" Kento stated.

"Okay, we know that Reika touched the Wildfire amulet, now look at what armor she's wearing and what armor is on her brother" Rowen said. The others looked at Reika and Ryudo, Reika was wearing the armor of Stars, and Ryudo was wearing the armor of Wildfire.

"Oh I see what you mean" Celena said, "Reika touched the Wildfire amulet thinking that she was to inherit the Wildfire armor when she was originally going to inherit the Stars armor, so the amulets disappeared because the Wildfire didn't recognize her as its next bearer so the amulets hid themselves until the real bearer came, am I right?"

Rowen nodded, "Yep, hit the nail on the head"

"So where are the amulets then?" Reika asked curiously.

As if in answer they all felt a sudden surge of power from behind them. Celena gasped as she saw Cye (the younger one) start to glow. The ten-pointed star amulet lifted itself from around Cye's neck and floated above his head. The others watched as each of the jewels one on each point started to glow as well. Then a beam of turquoise light shot out and hit Shin square in the chest. Shin cried out as the beam of power entered inside him. Before Sali could run over and help her brother, nine more beams of light shot out from the amulet hitting the rest of the children. "What's going on?" Caran asked as his own amulet shown with light.

"Cye's amulet is the a ten-pointed star for a reason whenever one or a majority of the amulets go missing the ten-point star can find them using the jewels that are on its points" Celena explained trying to keep her voice calm as she watched what was happening. She could feel Cye weakening, since their powers coincided with each other, she knew he couldn't keep this up for long.

"Hey look!" Caran exclaimed pointing at the children. Celena and the others looked up, and they saw something emerging from the children. Each now had on a glowing necklace; each one was on a fine chain and had different pendants hanging from them. The glow then died away revealing the now found amulets of the future. Reika shook her head to clear the fog that was in her head, and then looked down at herself, finding the amulet of the Stars armor around her neck. She then looked around and saw that the others were wearing one of the missing amulets as well. Reika laughed, "I knew it!" she said hugging her brother, "I knew they weren't gone!"

"That's right, it seems the amulets took refuge inside the bodies of their next bearer so they would be protected from the Dynasty" Kayura explained.

"AHHHHH!" Caran's scream grabbed everyone's attention and they whirled around.

Right where Cye had been was now a column of blue flames. The flames flickered and died, revealing a familiar figure. Cye was still there, but he had collapsed to his knees once the amulet had replaced itself around his neck. "OH MY GOD CYE!" Kento shouted, running over to his friend. Kento knelt beside his friend.

"Cye are you alright?" he asked concerned. Kento was surprised when his friend didn't answer him; he moved his hand in front of his friend's face.

"Hello, earth to Cye" he said.

"What's wrong, why won't he answer?" Celena asked.

"Because he can't hear you" said Cye's counterpart. Everyone looked at him in surprise.

"What do you mean?" Rowen asked.

"He's almost blind and deaf" was the reply. The past Ronins gasped.

"Is that why he didn't answer me?" Kento asked.

He nodded, "It's only temporarily though, I can't be certain when his sight and hearing will return"

The others let out a sigh of relief at least he would be okay. White Blaze walked over to Ryo and nuzzled his master's hand with his cold nose, effectively getting the boy's attention, even through the sub-armor. "Huh? Blaze?" Ryo blinked at the tiger. Those brown eyes seemed to be telling him that he'd better hurry, with every passing second; their chances of entering the Dynasty grew slimmer and slimmer. "Kayura, we'd better go" he said, turning to the former Demon Priestess.

"Then let's not waste any more time then" Kento said, putting Cye on his back to carry him.

"Wait, what about Orion?" Shu spoke up, "we all know the stories, the tiger carries the Soul Swords of Ferver"

"We think" Seiji reminded him, "we don't know if White Blaze has passed on the swords though"

Reika knelt down and looked straight into her tiger friend's eyes. "Listen to me Orion" she said seriously, the two pairs of blue eyes locked on, an unspoken understanding passing between them, "you have to stay here, Ryudo can manage without you for awhile, if he has to use the armor of Inferno, I'm sure the swords of Wildfire can handle the power surge just this once"

The blue-eyed tiger growled in concern, he obviously didn't like it. Kira ran up and wrapped her arms around the tiger's leg. "Please Orion, who's gonna keep us safe if you go?" she begged. The tiger reluctantly looked back and forth between his mistress and the little girl glued to his foreleg. He reluctantly sank to the ground; Kira snuggled up to his side. The look he gave Reika said as plain as anything I'll do it, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna like it! "Good boy" Reika patted his head, "just stay here, I'll see you soon"

"Ready?" Kayura asked.

At Reika's nod, Kayura raised the staff and studied the winged globe intensely. "So, what exactly is your plan?" Anubis raised an eyebrow, "you never really specified that fact"

Kayura grinned at him, "I'm going to do exactly what my ancestor, the Ancient, did when getting the Ronins to Talpa's stronghold in the first place"

"NO!" Ryo gasped, "He died doing that!"

Kayura chuckled a little, "You forget, that at this point, I am much older and much more experienced in the ways of the Staff than the Ancient was when he sacrificed himself for you" she reminded him.

Both Ryo and Kayura's husband Shiten visibly relaxed. She brought the butt of the Staff down to crash on the pavement. A pillar of intense blue light, a shade brighter than Reika's eyes, sprang up from the ground itself, piercing the clouds at the break through which weak sunlight still filtered. Spirals of silver intersected the pillar at regular intervals. It was similar in every way to the one the Ancient had created. A resounding BOOM crashed down through the clouds. Forks of black lightning licked down to crash into the pillar. Kayura screamed and fell to her knees, still gripping the Staff's smooth metal. The bridge she'd created began to flicker and fade… "No they don't!" Rajura said grimly, he covered the hand Kayura had on the Staff with one of his own, adding the power of his armor to hers. Following his example, the other three Warlords each placed a hand on the Staff. Their kanjis began to glow on their foreheads, and the silver rings circling the pillar flickered from black, to orange-red, to purple, to pinkish, whirling through the normal sparkling azure. "GO NOW!" Shiten gasped, "This isn't easy, we can't hold the gateway open forever!"

"But Aunt Kayura!" Touma hesitated a moment, obviously concerned about her.

"I'll be fine, just come back safely, all of you" she gasped. Touma nodded, then turned back to the other Ronins.

"Wait a second!" Rowen crossed to his son and tugged off his sweatband. He handed it to Touma, who looked a little stunned.

"It won't keep your hair out of your face but it might bring you luck" he smiled.

"Ready Touma?" Seiji asked, at his nod the group of sixteen teens, and a tiger, turned as one and stepped into the glowing blue, 'bridge'. Caran, Anubis, and Katrina watched them go, feeling the cold grips of anxiety in their guts. They would wait behind for them, even thought they had armors themselves, to return safely to the future without any injuries, mental or physical. Tears threatened to spill out of Caran's eyes, he bit his lip at he watched his cousins disappear into the brilliant blue light. "Come back safely to us guys" he whispered. He felt someone tugging on his jeans. He looked down and saw Tannin, a sincere look in his wide blue eyes. "They'll be okay" he said confidently, "Reika, my brother, and the others can take on anything". Caran knelt down and hugged Tannin close. The little boy hugged him back, obviously just as worried, but trying to be brave about it. "I'm sure they will be" he whispered fiercely into his ear, "they always are"

**SSSSSSSSS**

Reika stifled a shriek of alarm as she and her friends rose slowly off the ground and into the air. "Oh man oh man oh man" she muttered over and over.

"What's wrong Rei?" Ryudo had an evil grin on his face, "this isn't the first time you've levitated"

"I know that, but having Touma float us around in the air is much different from this!"

"Huh?" Ryo frowned.

"That's Touma's talent" Seiji explained, watching nervously as the distance between his feet and the ground steadily increased, "levitation without the Armor of Strata"

"Uh, don't we have more important things to worry about?" Shin pointed out.

"Good point" Rowen muttered.

"Last stop, top floor, Women's shoes, household appliances" Kento chuckled as they reached the lip of the cloud.

"You do realize that the only reason I haven't hit you for that terrible joke is because you're out of range, don't you?" Celena frowned at him.

"What do you think I'm doing all the way over here?" her friend grinned.

"You two are impossible" Mia sighed.

"Head's up guys!" Touma called. They'd floated a good five feet above cloud level, and were now just hovering in mid air.

"This is our stop then, I guess" Leeanna said.

It really wasn't that difficult to exit the glowing pillar; all one had to do was to step out of it. The problem was getting over to the edge. Using motions almost like swimming, the sub-armored teens floated over to the side of the blue light and pushed their way through. "Yah!" Shu yelped as he plunked down those last five feet.

"Hmm, that's strange" Sakura commented. She glanced curiously at her feet, sunk up to the ankles in the strange 'ground'. "I thought we'd fall right through the clouds"

"They aren't clouds Sakura" Ryo said grimly, "real clouds wash away filth; these clouds bring it with them"

"I had no idea you were so adamant about this" Nadeshiko said quietly.

"We're just tired of cleaning up after the rest of the mortal world" Rowen sighed, "the only reason the Dynasty can get through is because people carry evil and hatred in their hearts, they bring this down upon themselves"

"Yeah, and we take out the trash" Sage added, a slightly-less-than-thrilled look in his eyes, "I don't know how our counterparts could put up with it for three hundred years"

"Practice" Sali grinned, breaking the depressing mood that had settled on them, "that and sniping at each other, I think it keeps them sane"

"Some things never change" Celena shook her head.

"Besides, things don't grow on clouds" Shu pointed out.

They all looked around, realizing that he had a point. All around them were old, knarled oak trees, their limbs warped and twisted with age and eons spent defying the elements. Perhaps at some other time, they were lush and filled with greenery, but now, it seemed as though winter had descended upon this part of the cloud-scape. Skeletal branches reached imploringly towards the sky, as if begging to be freed from the evil surrounding them. Brittle, dry leaves littered the cloud ground, crunching with every step they took, and in sub-armor, the Ronins were capable of walking in total silence. "Come on, while we're sitting here chatting, the Dynasty could be slaughtering thousands of innocents" Ryudo reminded them.

"Oi, I'll bet that leadership quality runs in the family" Reika raised an eyebrow at her brother, who was already heading towards the castle ahead. He turned around and winked at her.

"It's in my job description"

"Yeah" Ryo grinned, "it comes with the armor"

From this distance, the Dynasty stronghold looked like one of those little toy lego castles kids' play with. If they made Japanese-style lego castles. "It's so far away" Sali said, "how will we get there in time?"

"You won't get there at all" a ghostly voice hissed. Violent wind whipped up around the teens, snatching up the leaves with it. A brutal whirlwind raged around them the edges of the leaves feeling razor sharp, digging into skin and slicing into their faces, the only exposed flesh. They threw their hands up in helpless attempts to ward off the dangerous foliage, batting away at the leaves as they whistled through the air. "What the heck?" Ryo shouted, his voice barely audible above the wind's high keening. He squinted against the onslaught, eyes tearing over. White Blaze growled menacingly in the general direction of the castle. As suddenly as the winds sprang up, they died. The silence they left in their wake was ear-ringing. In the absence of all sound, the chill in the atmosphere was noticeable. "You Ronins are persistent" that voice hissed, and it did not sound amused.

"That voice!" Touma gasped, "it's…"

"The thing we saw in that vision Rajura showed us!" Ryo gasped.

"SHOW yourself demon!" Shu shouted to the gray sky, "we know you're here!"

"Are you sure you want me to do that?" now it sounded vaguely mocking, "it was that very same wish which eventually killed Torrent"

"For you information he wasn't killed, you compost heap!" Reika shouted.

"So come out and fight us!" Rowen yelled, "unless you're afraid"

A miniature whirlwind developed about twenty feet off to the group's left. Everyone whirled to face it, awaiting the demon's appearance. Those dead leaves were gathered at the center of the funnel, obscuring a figure inside. The winds stilled and the leaves fell back once again to the 'ground'. The cloaked horror Rajura had showed them through his illusion stood there, that scythe gripped in a fleshless hand. The differences were that it was missing a left eye, even as the right one flickered with balefire. A horrible wound was still slashed across its neck; the lips of the gash were faintly tinged with green. "ARMOR UP!" Ryo cried. A brief moment later, after the flashes of light, rolls of silk, and sakura petals had vanished, seventeen armored figures defiantly faced the demon. "So little Torrent" it taunted, a jibe directed unmistakably at Shin, "I see you discovered my little trick" It heaved a mock sigh, bones scraping together in nauseatingly. Celena glanced momentarily in Shin's direction. To her surprise, there was neither rage, not grief on his face, which had her slightly worried. Either emotion would have been preferable to lack thereof, his face was expressionless as a sheet of marble, and about as cold. The voice dropped to glacier chill, "Even with the amulets, you're still a thorn in our sides, fetching the Ronins from the past was something I should have anticipated"

"You'll find this particular thorn extremely had to remove!" Shin growled, apparently coming out of his stupor, "I killed you once, I can do it again!"

"How is it still alive anyway?" Sali wondered, frowning a little. A horrible wheezing laughter came from that rotting jaw, "I can only be killed by a mystical weapon"

"But the Sword of Halo is a mystical weapon" Sage protested.

"My destruction can only be brought about by a mystical weapon in the hands of its true wielder", it seemed to take great pleasure in informing them of that fact.

"The Staff of Torrent should be able to rectify that mistake" Shin said calmly.

"You wish to try again, little boy?"

He glared at him, "Sure thing, and there's nothing little about me"

"Shin, you can't…" Seiji started to say.

He was silenced as Touma laid a hand on his arm and shook his head, he seemed to be saying, he's got to do this on his own. "So then" the skeleton cocked his head to one side, "you and me, to the death, no help from your little friends, have we…a deal?" A short nod from Shin signaled the beginning of the final battle between them. The demon raised his hand bearing his scythe and made a sweeping motion. A glowing circle appeared, cutting Shin and his opponent from the rest of the Ronins. "Just a little insurance" it gave a ghostly chuckle. The two enemies readied themselves, eyes locked on the other.

**SSSSSSSSS**

"Man there's nothing we can do about this!" Shu balled his hands into fists and gritted his teeth.

"That thing must be confident that he's going to win" Rowen mused, that circle will only vanish with its death or when it chooses.

"Neither of them can get out, and we can't get in" Celena summed it up pretty well.

**SSSSSSSSS**

'What is with this thing?' Shin wondered. It's just, standing there. He wasn't about to attack first though, impatience could get him killed in this game. He wasn't about to lay down his hand until he was good and ready. Shin wasn't sure what happened next. He thought he might have blinked, but suddenly, where the thing had been, it suddenly wasn't. 'Now where…?'. His eyes flickered around the cloud-scape, searching frantically for any sign of his enemy. A sudden shift in the air at his back caused his to whirl around. **'BEHIND!' **His mind screamed at him. He spun on his toe, and brought the staff up in time to catch the scythe, but the impact of it sent him sprawling to the ground with a small gash on his arm. His helmet rolled away, the metallic ringing noise it made as it struck the clouds echoing the clanging in his head. 'I'll have to do without it' he thought resolutely. Shin was just about to jump back to his feet when he caught sight of the wickedly gleaming point of the scythe headed in a downward stroke towards her heart. With a yelp of surprise, Shin rolled out of the way and spun to his feet. Once again, the demon had inexplicably vanished. The only clue to its whereabouts was the impact of the scythe to the back of his head. As it was Shin fell forward, catching himself with his hands before he hit the ground. Before he could regain his feet, sudden blows began to rain down on him from the sky. The skeleton was hitting him again, clouting him over and over. He knew it was toying with him, pushing him over the edge until he either passed out from pain or exhaustion.

**SSSSSSSSS**

Outside the barrier, the remaining Ronins were unable to help. "He's getting creamed!" Shu gasped, "totally slaughtered, and we can't do anything about it!" Sali dropped to her knees as she watched her brother fight. "Will you be okay?" Rowen crouched down next to her. Sali nodded holding back the tears that were welding up in her eyes, she could feel her brother's pain through the connection their armors had with each other. "Is it that bad?" Sage asked in a hushed voice watching Sali, "it he that close to losing?"

"Let's see what we can do about that" Touma fitted a golden arrow to his bow and drew it back. He let it fly; zipping straight towards the outline of the circle the two combatants dueled within. ZAP!

"Somehow, I get this sinking feeling…" Sage gulped, eyes wide at the tiny pile of ash; all that remained of the arrow.

"Shin you're on your own" Celena murmured, "please, don't lose now"

**SSSSSSSSS**

Shin had since regained his footing, but no matter which way he turned, he was always facing the gleaming edge of that blasted scythe. Occasionally, he was able to bring his staff up to block an attack, but all his attempts at retaliating were thwarted. 'He's moving too fast, I can't see it, let alone hit it?' Shin choked back a scream of pain as the blunt end of the enemy's weapon slammed into his chest. Something his father used to say came back to his with startling clarity. If you can't see your enemy, sense your enemy. He remembered watching him and his Uncle Naaza dueling one day, and his Uncle had made a comment about things being much more challenging if one's opponent could see. He'd asked what he meant and his father had explained how Uncle Ryo had been blinded by Uncle Naaza's brother, Seckmet's venom. He'd told him that the only way to survive a battle like that was to feel out where the adversary was. It was then that he started to teach him to use his sense of hearing, since Shin could always tell if someone was behind him by the sound of their footsteps, although he couldn't have been more than five at the time. 'That's it!'. Excitement flooded through him, giving him new energy, he could use his ability to hear, it was actually good for something in real battle! He straight up, and let his staff drop down, closing his eyes and gathering himself together, forcing his mind to block out the pain. He needed a calm moment to pull his mind into complete concentration; just enough to summon his strength, to let his breathing and heart beat return to normal. If only he'll leave me alone for just one second, just one…

**SSSSSSSSS**

"What is he doing?" Kento blinked. Shin had lowered his weapon, it almost looked as if he was giving up, acknowledging his defeat. His eyes were shut, as if his was awaiting the final impact.

"I-I don't know" Seiji shook his head, "but he can't be quitting now"

"He's not" Sali said quietly, her face had gone white from feeling her brother's pain, "just watch"

**SSSSSSSSS**

"Giving up so soon?" the demon mocked, raising its scythe for a killing blow, "very well, I accept your surrender" the curved blade whistled downward through the air, aiming for Shin's neck. A sharp, metallic clang echoed through the air. Shin's staff had snapped up almost too quickly for the eye to follow, effectively parrying the strike, though his lids were still sealed shut over his eyes. "What the…?" a gasp of stunned surprise issued the monster's mouth.

"You should have figured it out by now" Shin panted, "we Mouri's are notoriously hard to kill; I'm not out of the game yet!"

The battle was renewed with furious frenzy. This time however, Shin was scoring on the demon a least as many times as it managed to connect with him. His eyes remained closed the entire time. At this point, Shin was using every sense available to him in the battle. His senses of touch, hearing, smell, and even taste were put into effect. Especially smell, considering the rotting stench of the demon. Last but not least was that little sixth sense which warned him of the enemy's presence. It was erratic, and very hard to control, but always seemed to appear when he forfeited his sense of sight, filling in for it. That was one of the reasons he was so successful in spars.

**SSSSSSSSS**

"Whoo hoo, alright Shin!" Shu shouted cheering on his friend on. His comeback had surprised them all.

"He's using that sense technique he had showed us" Sage said, quiet admiration in his voice, "see his eyes are closed"

"You're right!" Rowen blinked in surprise, "he must have decided that his sight wasn't doing him much good anyway"

'Almost like that battle with Seckmet so long ago' Ryo mused, vision still locked on the two furiously dueling combatants.

"I just hope he can keep it up long enough" Sali said grimly, "I can feel his strength fading, those wounds are serious" her fingers came up reflexively to brush her arm.

"If there was only some way to break down that barrier" Mia muttered, frowning thoughtfully at the glowing red circle that marked the boundaries of the battle.

"Even it there was, he'd never forgive us for butting in" Touma said cheerfully, though how he could be so optimistic was beyond the others, "this is his fight; he's got to lay these demons to test permanently, pardon the pun"

"COME ON SHIN!" Kento shouted, "WE'VE GOT BIGGER FISH TO FRY!" he visibly flinched away from the dark glares, Celena and Sali shot him, even though he couldn't tell if Shin did or not.

**SSSSSSSSS**

From the inside of the circle, all sound from the outside was inaudible. In-fact, everything beyond the perimeter was practically non-existent. He couldn't see any of his friends, it was as if he had been blocked off from them, which was frightening, in a way. But he had other things to be frightened about. His arms were slowly wearing out. By all rights, the demon should have been showing signs of fatigue as well, but it seemed to be drawing its strength from some otherworldly source. His injuries were taxing on his reserves of energy, and each of his blows was weaker than the last. 'But I can't lose!' he thought desperately, dodging another strike that would have split his skull like a melon, the absence of his helmet was quite a handicap. 'If I fail now, it could hurt the others, possibly even kill them, and then who would free all those captured people? Who would avenge my father? There's no way I'm letting it win!' Something deep inside of him snapped, much as it had when he'd finally realized that he still had possession of one of the amulets. This was the thing that had nearly destroyed his life, had almost wrecked the lives of his uncles, had caused such great concern among his friends, and had caused his friend Reika to go back in time and rip the Ronins away from their world. A flood of fiery rage ignited his veins. The Staff of Torrent went up in a column of light-blue flames, until it appeared he was holding a weapon that was forged from water. Shin brought the staff down in an overhead arc designed to take out the demon's head. It brought up its scythe to block the staff. For a moment, they stood there, in a deadlock, he was pushing downward, and the thing was attempting to push him off. "You can't win little boy" foul breath blasted into his face.

"Watch me if you can, and brush your teeth while your at it" he choked out around the barrage of stench. In the end, its superior strength would have won out, had Shin not jumped off and turned away, only to spin back low, his fiery staff licking out to slash at its unprotected legs. He jerked upward at the last second, slicing cleanly through the demon's left wrist. As it stared in shock at the stump, jaw hanging open, Shin stopped to catch his breath. "That" he said, ignoring the lancing pain in his arm as his spoke, "is for my uncles, and all the pain you caused them!". He dashed back in, not giving his opponent any time to recover. It just barely brought its own weapon up to block his strike, handicapped as it was. And still, his eyes were closed. He threw himself against the bag of bones, tangling his staff and the scythe in the rotting leather cloak it wore, setting it aflame with his staff. He scraped one of the claws against ribcage, cutting away what little flesh was left on those bones. He distinctly heard the hiss of pain it breathed into his ear. Shin pulled away as quickly as possible, not willing to be in such close contact with such an overpowering stench for to long. "That was for my friends, for making them worry about me so much" he muttered before spinning away in a blur of fluid movement. The tide had turned; he was the cat and his enemy the mouse. But such rage can only be sustained for a short time before burning out. At least, that is the case with most people, but he was like his father once you get him angry it doesn't go away for awhile, and there was a lot of pent-up hatred sizzling in the air. One would have to be deaf, blind, and dumb not to realize that. "You will not triumph so easily boy" it clacked. The scythe swung in a slash that would have gouged the stomach plate had Shin not jumped away. 'Ooh, that was close' he thought. The hair on the back of his neck stood up at such a close shave. While it was recovering from that swing, and totally open, his sliced across its right eye, totally blinding it, and leaving it clutching at its now-flaming face. "That was for my father, and I hope it hurt like hell" he hissed, rage building to a breaking point. While the demon howled in anguish, skeletal hands covering its now sightless eyes, he lunged in, and with a quick stabbing motion, drove his staff home into the dark heart hidden behind a few flaps of decaying skin. "And that, "he felt the blue flames grow to engulf both himself and the grim reaper, "is for me, you heartless, soulless, bastard!"

**SSSSSSSSS**

"Dear god" Celena whispered, watching in horror as the Torrent staff went up in flames, "what is going on?"

"I couldn't tell you" Ryo stared, totally caught up in the fight, "because I don't know either"

They went quiet for a moment; the only sound was the harsh rasping of Sali's breathing. The cloaked skeleton was slowly being beaten into pulp.

"He-he's playing with the crazy thing!" Shu stammered.

"Thank you mister obvious" Rowen muttered under his breath.

The silence descended once more, this time shocked and stunned as shin calmly tore the thing limb from limb, first avulsing its left hand, followed by most of the skin on the ribs, and the right eye. For a brief moment, everything stood stock-still as he plunged the tip of the staff deep into the monstrosity's heart. Then the world went up in flames. Everything inside the boundaries went up into a blazing inferno, as if several nuclear bombs had gone off inside a confined area. "HIT THE DIRT!" Sage cried, throwing himself to the ground and dragging Celena, who was nearest to him, down at well. The others followed suit and covered their heads with their hands as a wave after wave of boiling hot water and cold water rolled over them.

"Ouch" Touma muttered, his skin felt hot and cold at the same time.

"Ditto" Celena moaned.

"What happened?" Ryo asked groggily, trying to push himself up. The blast had been particularly damaging to himself and Ryudo, as their armors were fire-based.

"It's over!" Leeanna jumped to her feet, "the battles over, Shin won!"

"Yeah, if he wasn't fried" Rowen reminded her.

"No, he's okay" Sali's voice came, "look"

Slowly the remaining Ronins regained their feet, and turned to look in the direction of the circle had been in. Everything inside it was charred and burned to ash. The few withered trees that had been inside were now smoking blacking stumps. And standing off to the right side of the ring of destruction, was Shin, calmly cleaning his staff with the remains of the monster's cloak. "Demon's blood" he spat as they drew closer to him, "it corrodes like acid" He held up the staff's tip, inspecting it with a critical eye, then stuck the end of it in the ground.

"Shin, what happened?" Touma asked, "what was with your staff?". Shin turned mild eyes on him, and smiled.

"I don't know, I think it was a physical representation of the rage inside me" he placed his hand on his arm, running his finger over where the cut was in the metal of his armor.

Shu let out an incredulous whistle and used his toe to prod the small pile of ashes and charred bone that was all that remained of the thing. "Man Shin, you sure pulled a job on this guy" he commented.

"I'd say he pulled one on me" he said ruefully, trying to ignore the lancing pain in his arm. Seiji reached over and took Shin's arm in his hands. He gently turned him to the side to get a better look at it. "How bad is it?" he asked.. Seiji swallowed hard. In reality, it was one of the worst injuries he'd ever seen. It looked as if his arm had caved in, and it was a terrible bluish-black color, tinged with yellow, not pretty. Shin must have seen the look of horror flicker across his face, for he turned wide eyes on him. "It's disfiguring, isn't it?" he inquired in a hushed tone.

"Not if I have anything to say about it" he replied grimly.

Shin winced away from his cool armored hand. Seiji held Shin's face with one of his hands while the other was on his arm, and forced him to look into his eyes. Shin felt himself falling into a trance-like state, and realized he was trying to hypnotize him, so Seiji could use his healing powers without his interference. There was an audible pop as his arm went back to its normal form. His eyes went wide at the noise, even though it didn't hurt, but it was definitely a strange sensation feeling his bones knit back together. "Creepy" Sali remarked, pulling her hand away from where it had been on her arm, "defiantly creepy"

Shin pushed Seiji away from him, thwarting his attempts to finish healing him, "Save your strength buddy, I'll live, the rest of the injuries aren't too bad, just some bumps and bruises"

"I think this is yours" Celena smiled, passing him his helmet, which was miraculously unaffected by the water and flames.

"Thank you" he slipped it back over his head, confining his hair.

"So now what?" Sakura asked, skirting the pile of ash with a look of disgust on her face, "I mean, we don't know what we're up against, Shin just fried one enemy we actually know about, and it had to be working for somebody" leave it to Sakura to point out the practical side of their dangers, "so do we head to the palace now, or what?"

"We have no choice" Nadeshiko said firmly, "we've started this, and now we'll see it though to the end."

Every head nodded in agreement. Looks of determination spread over sixteen faces as they steeled themselves for the dangers ahead. As they turned to begin the long trek to the distant palace, Shin paused and turned back, his eyes sweeping the charred battlefield. "Rest now father" he murmured, feeling the hot, dry air ruffle the wisps of hair that had escaped his helmet, "we'll take care of this, and then things will be back to normal again."

**TBC…**

**Author's Note**: Yay! I'm back. Sorry about the wait, I could not update until this weekend. I will once again give credit to my friends who helped me with this and my other stories as well: **THANK YOU SO MUCH YOU GUYS!!** Well read and review please it helps me work. Ja ne for now.


	7. Chapter 6

**Rating: **T

**Pairings: **Future selves: RyoxMia, CyexCelena, KentoxKahlan, RowenxLee, and SagexSaphrita. Past Selves: CyexCelena and RyoxMia. Kids: None yet.

**Disclaimer:** I only own the RW DVDs and my OCs, my friends own their OCs

**SSSSSSSSS **scene change

_italics_ telepathy

"yap yap yap" talk

'yap yap yap' thoughts

**Past**

**Meets**

**Future**

**Chapter 6**

A growl of frustration escaped Rowen's throat. It seemed that no matter how far they walked, (and they'd been walking for over two hours) they never grew any closer to the castle. Their armor had begun to weigh heavily on their shoulders, and their feet were dragging. For some reason, Rowen's patience was wearing especially thin. "This is ridiculous!" he exploded, causing everyone to turn and look at him, "what is this, it doesn't matter how far we go, we'll never get any closer, it just isn't logical"

Sage choked back a bark of laughter, "Is that what's eating you, you aren't able to figure out how this is happening, man, I thought you were going nuts"

"I am!" Rowen threw his hands into the air futilely, "this is so pointless we'll never get there!"

"This isn't like you Ro" Mia said quietly, eye filled with concern, "what's really the matter?"

Rowen sighed and sank to the ground, shoulder slumping, "That thing that Shin fought was so powerful, how can we possibly hope to defeat whatever it was working for?"

"And you are the Warrior of Strata that will become our father?" Touma sounded incredulous.

"That's impossible; our father would never speak like that!" Leeanna said.

Rowen turned angry eyes on Touma and Leeanna, who merely crossed their arms over their chests and raised their eyebrows. Reika hid smile behind her hand, seeing where this was going. Well, if Touma and Leeanna wanted to play 'bad cops' she and Ryudo would be willing to play 'good cops'. "Oh come on Sky, give him a break" Reika laid a hand on Touma's elbow, "it's been a long morning for all of us maybe if we take a rest, things will be easier"

"I still can't believe one of the fabled Ronin Warriors would give up so easily" he friend grumbled plopping down to the ground, still glaring at Rowen. Knowing glances were exchanged between the others. They hadn't missed the exchange between Reika, Ryudo, Touma, and Leeanna. Everyone else took a seat, catching their breath; they'd been hiking for two hours nonstop, which can tax even the most energetic person. White Blaze was the only one who didn't seem to be gasping for breath, but even the mystical tiger's sides were heaving as he lowered his head to his paws and closed his eyes; taking a little catnap. "So, do you think you could actually come up with something Genius?" Touma growled. Rowen flashed him a glare as fierce as Ryo's sure-kill.

"Play nice boys" Reika muttered, lying on her back and staring up at the sky, "I'm sure he can think of a plan"

Mia heaved a sigh and pulled off her helmet, pushing strands of sweat soaked hair out of her face, "It's like an oven in there" she commented as the others followed suit, except for Kento who had his hands full carrying Cye on his back. "Hey Kento, do you want one of us to carry him for awhile?" Sage asked him.

Kento shook his head, "No, its okay, I've got him" he said shifting Cye since he was starting to slip off his back. Sage just shrugged. "Hmm" Rowen seemed to be considering something, his eyes were locked on the castle, a scowl twisting on his face. Then his eyes grew wide and a panicked look appeared, "Oh!" he gasped, "oh no!"

"Oh no what?" Ryo cocked his head to one side.

"Sage, your sword can see through illusions right?" Rowen turned to his friend.

Sage nodded, "Yes, you should know that by now, why?"

"Look at he palace through the sword, tell us what you see" the archer's voice was insistent.

"Do it Sage" Celena suddenly grinned, "I think I see what he's getting at"

Sage held up his no-datchi and held the flat of the blade between his eyes and peered along the edge of the blade at the palace. His ice blue eyes narrowed and he watched as the outline of the structure began to waver, it became see-through, almost like a mirage shimmering in desert heat. "What the?" he frowned and tried to concentrate harder, only to pull back with a gasp of shock as it disappeared.

"What, what happened?" Shu demanded.

"It-it vanished!" he stammered, "the palace, it's just an illusion!"

"I thought so" Rowen said in a tone of smug satisfaction.

"You mean we've been walking for hours towards something that wasn't even there!" Kento gaped at him, "that's bogus, now what, where's the real castle?"

"How are we supposed to know?" Seiji snapped at him, "we only just now figured this out"

"Hold on a second guys" Sage said in a distracted tone. He slowly got to his feet; eyes still focused along the length of the blade, and began to turn in a circle, scanning the entire cloud-scape. "Ah hah!" he let out a triumphant cry and suddenly whipped the Sword of Halo to point in the opposite direction of the mirage they'd all been following. Everyone had been watching his actions, and so everyone saw as the air in the area and formed into a duplicate of the castle they'd been heading towards. However, none of them saw the illusion behind them fade out of existence. "All right Rowen!" Reika threw her arms around Strata's neck, hugging him jubilantly, ruffling his blue hair, "I knew you'd come up with something!" Rowen just chuckled and watched as Sage set his blade down and sank back down to sit with the others. They did need some rest, and they had a long walk ahead of them. Touma and Leeanna turned to their 'father' with grins on their faces. They gave him the thumbs up, leaving Rowen gaping. He'd thought that they had been angry at him. Shin smiled and leaned over, "It was just a ploy to get you thinking again" he said under his breath, amusement tingeing his tone, "and it worked like a charm"

"I should have seen it" Rowen shook his head ruefully. Reika caught his eye and grinned widely before turning back to the conversation the others were holding.

"I can't believe we spent that entire time heading in the wrong direction!" Kento was saying, "now we have to make up for all that lost time"

"Well, if you think about it, the signs were right there in front of us" Mia told him, "those trees must have been part of some kind of garden, so I'll wager we were right in front of the palace the whole time"

"Yeah, and don't we feel silly" Ryo said wryly, "we should have figured it out earlier"

"Ah, it's not as if we had any evidence other than that grove of trees" Sakura reminded him, "and that demon of course"

"So we've got another two hours in the other direction" Shu picked up his helmet and turned it this-way-and-that, "we're going to die of heat exhaustion first"

"Maybe you will" Reika poked him in the back.

"You're evil Rei"

"Runs in the family" Sage smiled, dodging the punch Ryo threw at his head. White Blaze just climbed back to his feet and rolled his eyes at their antics.

"Come on guys, let's get moving" Shin stood back up and slipped his helmet back on, "we've got two hours worth of walking to make up"

The mood between the Ronins was noticeably lighter. There was even a small amount of joking going on, but no one's heart was really into it, and everyone knew it was just the anxiety they were all feeling. Touma and Leeanna dropped back and pulled Rowen along with them. The expressions on their faces could be best described as apologetic. "Listen" Touma began, "we just wanted to say 'sorry' for what we said earlier, you got to believe us when we say we didn't mean it"

"Yeah it was just to get you to actually use those brains of yours to come up with a plan" Leeanna explained.

Rowen gripped their shoulders, "I know that, and I'm sorry too, I don't know what happened to make me so hopeless, you probably know I'm not usually like that"

The children smiled. "Yeah, I guess so." Touma's face fell a little, "The thing is, well, you see, I know I'm not as smart as my father, nowhere near as good with plans and stuff like that." he looked down at his feet, "I'm just average, so we had to rely on you to come up with something." For a moment, Rowen saw himself in the boy across from him; constantly trying to please by doing something he truly didn't want to do, just like him and his father's lab. "Hey Touma, don't sell yourself short." that blue head came up to lock eyes with Rowen, "If you were 'just average' the armor wouldn't have chosen you, it picks its wearer, it can't be forced, if you were unworthy, no matter what your father did couldn't have coerced it to you, I'll tell you something, I've seen you using a spear, and that's something I can't do, the only weapon I know how to use is a bow, and it's these different skills we all have that's going to win the battle for us."

The grin Touma gave him was full of gratitude, "Hey thanks!"

"Are you three coming?" Sali shouted, "or are we gonna have to drag you with us?"

"I'd like to see you try!" Leeanna hollered back.

"We'd better catch up with them" Rowen said, "or Sali might just make good on that threat and sic Shu and Ryudo on us"

"Ah! We're going, we're going!"

**SSSSSSSSS**

After what seemed like hours the Ronins finally found themselves in front of the palace. "Phew, it took awhile, but we made it back" Ryo said stating the obvious.

"We knew that" Celena replied, "the question is, now what?"

"We've got to figure out someway to get in" Ryudo pointed out.

"Why not just do what we always do" Kento shrugged, "break down the door"

"Hmm, that appears to be out only option" Rowen peered speculatively at the gate, while Touma glared at it as if it had personally offended him.

"I hope you won't" someone giggled, "it's the only front gate I have at the moment"

A startled gasp ripped from sixteen throats as they all whirled around to face…a teenage girl? Yes, a young girl, perhaps about thirteen years of age. She had dark red hair that poured halfway down her back. Like most people with hair that hue, her skin was a tan color and freckles were sprinkled across her nose. Large brown eyes stared up at them, for she was rather short and very petite; almost like a pixie in appearance. A cream colored tunic belted at the waist and a pair of slipped on shoes make up her attire. "Who are you?" Shu asked, unsure if he should be wary or not.

"My name's Taru" she giggled, "this is my castle"

A sixteen-way glance was exchanged, this was their adversary? "Uh, you mean to tell us that you are the person who captured half the city's population?" Ryo raised an eyebrow.

"Slightly more than three-fourths" she corrected, "yeah that's me, I'm in charge here"

"You?" Touma snorted.

"Yes me, I'm in control by right!" she raised her chin and fire snapped in her eyes, "I was hand picked by Badamon four thousand years ago as his successor" her eyes misted over and her lower lip began to tremble, tears spilt down her cheeks, "and it's because of you rotten Ronins that I never got my chance, you went and destroyed my world before I could ever get the power I deserved, now I'm creating my own power base, and you can't stop me, there's one of me and five of you, you're outclassed!"

Then she frowned and glared at them; they could almost see the wheels turning behind her eyes, "Hey, there's too many of you, there's only supposed to be ten!"

"Didn't your little minion tell you?" Reika could barely keep the sarcasm out of her voice, "these Ronins are from the past"

The girl fixed a withering glance on her, "You did it, didn't you, you broke the rules Stars, you weren't supposed to do that." she stamped her foot like a spoiled child.

Everyone blinked in surprise, what was going on? Then Taru's face lit up, "Oh well, now that there's more of you, I can have more fun!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nadeshiko choked.

This girl was clearly off the edge. Her moods swung from innocent child to serial killer in a blink of an eye. This Taru was coming unhinged. "Hmm, decisions, decisions." she drawled, eyes narrowing as she surveyed them all. No one made a move to attack, though hands were twitching towards weapons. They didn't know how strong she might be. Even the strangest opponents could be powerful enough to mop the floor with their faces. "Do I kill you all now of have more fun playing around with you?" she had levitated upward and was now perched in midair, legs crossed and elbows resting on her knees, chin in her hands, "I think this is the most distracting thing to happen to me since I started pulling my power base together" an insane giggle slipped from between her lips, "those puny humans weren't much fun" her lower lip jutted out in a pout, "I think I'll take my time with you"

"I don't **THINK **so!" Touma growled, he nicked an arrow on his bowstring and drew it back. **"ARROW SHOCK WAVE!"**

The huge surge of energy zoomed straight for Taru. Rowen gasped in shock. He knew just how powerful his sure-kill could be; Touma had charged it to the max. "Oh puhleez!" Taru rolled her eyes absently making a small motion as if swatting a bug away from her face. The Shock Wave was deflected, dissipated really. The energy just faded and disappeared. "No **WAY**!" Kento gaped, "that's just not possible!"

"Sh-she absorbed it?" Ryo gulped, "how…?"

"Why thank you so much for that little addition to my energy reserve Strata" Taru said, batting her lashes at him coquettishly, "so much more potent than that feeble life energy"

Reika swallowed back a snarl of rage. How could this…this…monster act as if the lives of all those people were nothing more than the lives of little gnats? Little girl she may appear to be, but the callousness she treated their species with was intolerable. "You might want to stop playing around" Shin growled, "too many people have made the mistake of underestimating us, your little skeleton friend, for one" A look of vague disappointment crossed Taru's face. "You killed him?" she asked off handedly, "oh well, he was incompetent, failing to kill you in the first place… and now losing to a pitiful little boy playing soldier, laughable, absolutely laughable" she broke into a laugh that would have made a hyena wince. Celena brought her hands up to cover the sides of her helmet where her ears were. Sali caught her brother's eye and shook her head; he couldn't rise to the bait. "I suppose I owe you one though" the red-haired girl sighed, "he was beginning to stink up the Netherworld, I spent too much time purifying the air around here". Again with that laugh, this time everyone flinched. "Hmm, do I use my own power to destroy you, or should I bring out Screamer?" Taru debated with no one in particular.

"Screamer?" Rowen murmured to Sage.

"I don't think we want to know" Halo replied grimly.

"Screamer it is!" the girl sounded positively cheerful.

She reached up over her head and made a pulling motion, like she was tugging on something. "Come here!" she grunted, "I command you!" she braced her feet against an invisible wall and pulled even harder.

"**NOW!"** Ryo shouted.

"**THUNDER BOLT CUT!"**

"**MIND CORRUPTION STRIKE!"**

Seiji and Celena both threw their sure-kills at their distracted enemy. "Goodness, you certainly are thick-skulled aren't you?" Taru chided them as the smoke cleared. She was still hovering over their heads her hands clasped behind her back, "you do realize that all you've done is give me even more strength"

"Darn, we can't use are attacks!" Sali gritted out from between clenched teeth, "she'll just use out own energy and throw it back at us"

"So, we'll do this the old fashioned way" Reika muttered, tightening her grip on her sais.

"We'll see" the redhead smirked, "but before you proceed in 'tearing me limb from limb', I'd like you to meet a good friend of mine" she pulled something from behind her, "Ronins this is Screamer"

'Screamer' turned out to be a staff. Mounted on the top of it was a human skull, a skull with fangs easily six inches long. A pair of horns curled up form either temple. It grinned demonically at the group; the mere sight of it sent shivers up everyone's spines. "Ew" Sakura commented.

"Yuck, it looks like something out of one of Kento's horror flicks" Mia wrinkled her nose.

"Oh, you're hurting his feelings" Taru pouted, "apologize of face the consequences"

"Listen lady" Ryudo snarled, "we don't apologize to heads on sticks, got that?"

"Consequences it is then!" she squealed in glee, she raised the staff over her head. "Souls of the lost, let your cries of torment be heard!" she intoned in a voice much different from the one she'd been using thus far. "STATTERED SOUL SCREAM!" the cry ripped from her throat. The jaw of the skull unhinged and fell open. A horrific keening split forth, a wail that seemed to penetrate through the skin and muscle, vibrating in one's ear bones. "Get it out of my head!" Shu grunted, clutching at the sides of his helmet.

"Ahhhh, it hurts!" Rowen groaned, wishing desperately for some way to plug up his ears.

One by one the others fell to their knees, weapons clattering to the ground from hands that had suddenly gone to protect their ears. It's like a Banshee's wail Reika thought, glaring at Taru through slitted eyes. It's going to drive up all insane. Sage reached for his sword, hand shaking against the need to cover his ears. **"STOP IT!" **Ryo shouted, **"STOP IT NOW!"** A roar answered his cry. White Blaze launched himself through the air, claws splayed out to rip through flesh. "Ahhh!" Taru fell back, clutching her wrist, Screamer fell to the ground, mouth closed once it had lost contact with Taru.

"Good boy White Blaze" Mia gasped, scrambling to grab her sais and get back to her feet; an action quickly followed by the others.

"Owww!" Taru whined, rubbing her hand, "that hurt, I'm bleeding, oh yuck!"

"Oh yuck?" Touma raised an eyebrow.

"She's got the mentality of an eight year old" Seiji muttered. Reika couldn't help but snicker a little.

"You should look into getting your little kitty declawed" she growled at Ryo. "I hate cats!" she held her hands out in front of her, palms facing each other.

A glowing sphere, crackling with energy sprang to life between her hands. She slowly pulled them back, the globe growing brighter and larger the farther away the hands were pulled, until it was roughly the size of a basketball. "I'll make a rug out of you!" she screamed, hurling the ball at White Blaze, who sprang nimbly away; but not quick enough. The sphere exploded on impact with the ground, throwing everyone into the air and crashing back down to the ground. Blaze was caught in the detonation and flung against the stone wall of the castle gate. "Man what a spoiled brat" Kento groaned as he picked himself off the ground, then proceeded to place Cye back onto his back since he had fallen off when Kento collapsed to the ground. "Worse than Ralon" Shu agreed.

"Remind me to tell him you said that" Sali muttered, planting her feet firmly on the ground, she was getting sick of being tossed around like a rag doll.

"I'm getting bored with this" Taru yawned, mood swinging from rage to indifference.

She flicked her wrist and her nails sprouted into wickedly sharp, foot-long claws. She jerked her arm up towards her face, shooting the spikes into the warriors' midst. "Oh now what?" Nadeshiko cried even as she hit the dirt.

"My aren't we cynical?"

Her other hand suddenly grew claws as well, and this time she was aiming. A gasp ripped loose from Touma's throat as one of the spikes grazed his cheek. An identical sound of pain choked from Celena. She hadn't been quite so lucky. A claw had penetrated the protective plating of her armor and had stabbed deep into her bicep. "Touma, Celena!" Reika turned to make sure they were alright, "you okay?"

"Ugh" Touma wiped a trickle of blood off his face, "I think so, but…" his hands started to shake and he clutched his head, "I feel kind of woozy"

"M-me too" Celena slurred, things had gone blurry and unless everyone suddenly had an identical twin with armor, she was seeing double.

"Give it an hour or so" Taru said nonchalantly, "the poison in my little nail will get to you heart eventually, it will be a slow, particularly painful death" her voice lowered to a maniacal hiss, "it is only what you deserve"

Before anyone could react to that statement the 'ground' began to shake. A crack snaked along the clouds, linking the hurled claws together. A huge gap opened up, but instead of revealing the palace and courtyard so far below, an inky darkness gaped up at them. **"GET BACK!"** Seiji cried, grabbing the two nearest to him, Rowen and Shin, and hauling them backwards.

"You won't escape my little trap that easily!" Taru shrieked.

"That's it!" Ryo growled, somehow keeping his footing on the unsteady clouds, "I'm not going to listen to this psycho girl anymore!" his eyes narrowed and he began to spin his katanas over his head with practiced ease, **"FLARE UP NO…"**

"**NO!"** everyone shouted, **"DON'T!"**

He was suddenly cut off as the ground opened up beneath his feet and everyone else's. With a collective shout of alarm and shock, the Ronins and White Blaze fell down…down…endlessly down into a darkness nothing could pierce.

**SSSSSSSSS**

"Oohh!" a faint moan from off to his left brought Seiji back from unconsciousness. His head was throbbing and flashes of bright color frequently zapped across his vision. He thought he recognized the voice. "Sali?" he asked groggily, sitting up only to fall back when a swirl of dizziness overcame him.

"Seiji, is that you?" the other sounded about as dazed as Seiji felt.

"Uh huh" that was as much an answer as he could manage.

"Hey, how about some light?" Sali asked weakly.

"Good idea"

After a few moments of groping around in the darkness, he managed to locate his no-datchi, the sword's blade began to glow a watery green, faintly illuminating…wherever it was they were. It almost appeared to be some kind of room. The ceiling was lost in shadow, and there didn't seem to be any doors of windows of any kind, there was no sign of how they'd managed to get in. "Where are we now?" Sali wondered.

"I don't know" Seiji replied grimly, "but something is seriously wrong here, we should find the others"

"Well, we're right here" a voice said groggily.

"Shin, is that you, where are you?" Sali asked looking around.

"Yes, its me, and you're standing on me and Sakura, could you get off, please?" Shin asked. Sali looked down and saw that she was standing on her brother and Sakura.

"Oh, sorry" she said as she helped them up.

"Okay that's two down, six more to go" Seiji started walking, "are you going to stand there, or come with me?"

"Ahh, we're coming!" Sali shouted.

As the sword of Halo only illuminated a small area, the search went slowly. Wherever they were was rather large as well as dark. There was no way to mark the passage of time, so it could have been five minutes or an hour before the three Ronins found any sign of their friends. "Seiji is that…?" Shin gestured wildly over to his left, where two dark lumps were sprawled.

"I think so" they stumbled as quickly as possible over towards the figures; one silhouette was about Sali's height, when the other was too small to be Kento, but much too large to be anyone but… "Shu, Nadeshiko!" Sali went down on her knees next to her friend while Shin knelt next to Nadeshiko. Seiji knelt down as well, holding the Sword over their heads so they could see. "Is he okay?"

"Shu, SHU, wake up!" Sali was shaking her friend's shoulder so hard that Hardrock's head was snapping back and forth.

"SALI, stop it you'll snap his neck!" Seiji grabbed the other's wrist to pull him away then leaned forward, "hey, come on, wake up Shu" he said, sending a small mental push with it.

Shu moaned a little and cracked an eye open. It felt like somebody was inside his skull attempting to pound his way out. Two pale blotches hovered over him, standing out with startling brightness against a blackish background. He blinked rapidly and the blotches swam into focus as two very familiar faces. "Sali, Seiji?" he mumbled, trying to clear away the fog around his brain.

"Phew" Sali sighed in relief, "at least you're okay"

"Hmm, looks like a hard head runs in the family" he joked feebly.

"Not to mention a terrible sense of humor" Seiji smiled wanly.

"Uh, where's everyone else?" Shu sat up and tried not to swoon back down to the floor. Things fuzzed in and out of focus for a moment before his vision cleared over.

"I'm over here" Nadeshiko replied dazedly as Shin helped her up.

Sakura nibbled her lower lip anxiously, "We don't know, Taru put us somewhere, but you're the first two we found"

"Darn" Shu growled.

"All we can do is keep looking for them." Seiji said glumly, "they've got to be here somewhere"

"Great we don't even know where here is!"

"Panicking will get us nowhere Shu" it appeared that tempers were close to the fraying point.

"Uh guys?" Shin's voice cut through the admonishments.

They all turned to glare at him, only to find he was staring intensely at his palm, "I think Ryudo and Rei are over that way" he pointed off into the inky darkness.

"Well you would know" Nadeshiko shrugged.

"Seiji?" Shin glanced pointedly at the Sword of Halo, "we'll need the light"

"Oh right!"

"Are you sure about this?" Shu frowned.

"Positive" Shin nodded firmly, "they're over here somewhere…"

"OW!" Shu stepped back from the wall that had sprung out of nowhere and rubbed his nose ruefully, "where'd that come from?"

"Hmm, so this isn't just some endless blackness" Seiji mused, ignoring Shu's grumbling, "it's some kind of room"

"Do you think we'll find the others if we stick to the wall?" Shin asked.

There were eleven others to find, not counting White Blaze. Seiji shook his head, "Don't count on it, who know how far away the other wall is, they could be stuck in the middle of this cavern and we'd never know!"

"But the door is most likely on the wall, unless there's a hole somewhere in the floor, so it we're going to find a way out, it would be along here somewhere" Sali pointed out.

"We can't just leave the others!" Seiji frowned.

"Oh yeah" Sali said faintly.

"Maybe if we just walk in a straight line we'll find someone" Nadeshiko suggested, "after all, it can't be that far to the other side"

"Should I add that to your list of famous last words?" Shin muttered, getting a very bad feeling about the whole thing, but here honestly wasn't much of a choice, they had to find the others before they left.

Silence fell for a moment as the three friends searched the darkness fruitlessly. The silence was ear-ringing, and the darkness seemed to swallow everything whole. What little speaking did take place sounded hollow and empty, depression set in. "We're probably walking in circles" Seiji muttered. The light on his sword flickered for a moment, only to re-solidify slightly dimmer than before. "Seiji snap out of it!" Shin sounded frantic, "you're letting this get to you, don't let the light go out!" Before Seiji could reply to that, a shout broke through the darkness.

"Hey look, there's something over there!" Shu cried, breaking away from the small circle of light and tearing off out of sight.

"Shu, come back here!" Shin shouted, starting after him, Seiji grabbed his arm.

"If you try to find him, you could get lost too" he said sensible, "now Shu obviously saw something, what's that link of yours tell you?"

Shin glanced down at his hand and then back up at Seiji, "It's pulling towards where Shu was headed!"

"He must have found them!"

'Ugh, all that arguing was getting us nowhere!' Shu thought angrily. He realized that he was still able to see, sort of. His armor was giving off some kind of glow. He hadn't realized it before, probably because it was so faint and Seiji's sword had been glowing fairly bright. 'Must be because I'm getting close to somebody, I'll bet I saw was Ryudo, Reika, Touma or Leeanna, they're the only ones my armor would react to, I think'

However, his armor wasn't the only thing glowing; the faint outlines of something crimson and gold could be seen not far off. 'I knew it' Shu thought triumphantly, 'there was something there; it's got to be them!' He took off towards the glow, a little more confident now that he had some sort of destination, and sure enough, a few moments later, he screeched to a halt by the source of the glow, the Wildfire and Stars armors and their bearers. "Reika, Ryudo?" Shu asked, not really expecting an answer. He crouched down next to his friends' prone forms and gently shook them, "hey you two are you alright?" The only answer he received were two quiet moans. "Hey Shu!" the sound of footsteps and ragged breathing echoed from behind him, looking over his shoulder, he saw the emerald green light given off by the Sword of Halo. Shin, Seiji, Sali, Sakura, and Nadeshiko pulled up behind him, gasping for breath. "Don't **DO** that!" Sali shook a finger at him, "geez, you wander off in this darkness and we might never find you again!"

"Heaven forbid" Seiji muttered, undaunted by the black glares his friends shot him, he was too upset about being ditched to care much.

"I had a guide" Shu told them, "I think our armor starts to glow whenever we get close to another Ronin, the reason we didn't notice was because it was too faint to see in normal light, that's what caught my eye, Ryudo and Reika's armors"

"Well, they don't look hurt" Sali went down to her knees and checked for pulse and breathing.

Both of them shivered, apparently the sub-armor was cool to the touch; their eyes creaked open, peering shortsightedly up at them. "Ugh, somebody tell the guy with the bell to stop with the noise" Reika grumbled, sitting up slowly so as not to jar her head.

"Um, Rei, there is no guy with a bell" Shin said, a puzzled look on his face.

"Oh, well then…man my head is ringing" she buried her face in her hands, trying to keep her friends from spinning around her vision.

"I think you may have landed on your head" Ryudo grinned.

"Heh, no kidding" she rubbed her eyes and then blinked back at them, "what the, hey aren't we missing a few warriors?"

"And a tiger" Nadeshiko nodded, "we're looking for the others, but so far, we haven't had much luck"

Ryudo's eyes went wide, "You mean you haven't found Celena or Touma?"

Sakura frowned, "No why?"

"They got hit by Taru's claws, she said they were poison and that they only had an hour to live!" he sounded slightly hysterical, "and who knows how long we've been unconscious…" his voice trailed off.

"Oh **NO!**" Shin looked around frantically at the others, "you don't think they…"

"No" Seiji said firmly, "we'd know, out armors are linked remember?"

"Phew that's right"

"Hmm, so why don't we just use out armors to find Touma, and Leeanna then?" Sali suggested.

"But there's no way to find Ryo and the others" Shu said thoughtfully, "they have an identical set of armors, well almost, but that doesn't mean they all link up"

"I'd be surprised if they were even in this weird cave" Seiji frowned.

"What makes you say that?" Reika raised her eyebrows.

"Taru was saying that she was going to split us all up and take her time with us, remember, I'll bet that the others are somewhere similar to where we are"

"So the first thing we have to do is find Touma and Leeanna, then find a way out of here, and then find everyone else" Shin sounded a little discouraged.

"That's a pretty tall order" Sakura sighed.

"As Touma would say, 'nothing we can't handle!'" Reika grinned; she climbed unsteadily to her feet, "let's get moving"

**SSSSSSSSS**

He hurt. That was pretty much the only way to describe the way Touma felt. Whatever had been on those claws had hit him hard. It felt as if the blood in his veins had changed into molten lava. It roared through his ears, creating a dreadful light-headedness that made it feel as if he was constantly spinning. Breath came in short, sharp, painful gasps, as his chest felt like it was clamped in a vise. If there had been anything to see in the strange darkness, he wouldn't have been able to, for even his hands, when held up in front of his face were blurry and shaking. He lay on his back on a cold stone floor, letting the chill seep into his bones. Simultaneous rushes of hot and cold made Touma want to collapse to the floor and give in to the suddenly sweet promise of sleep. But Taru's words kept echoing through his head, 'give it an hour or so…poison…slow, painful death...'

'I can't let myself die yet.' He told himself, the first coherent thought he'd had for awhile. 'There's got to be some way to fight the effects of the poison, I only caught a slight dose…Oh god, if I'm this far gone, what happened to Celena?'

A sudden blue glow lanced through Touma's eyes, he squeezed his lids shut, blocking out the pain it caused; but still it shone through. 'Now what?' he wondered cynically. He cracked on eye open and peered down, realizing that it was his armor that glowed, pulsing slowly with his heartbeat, a trembling hand held up to his forehead revealed that his kanji was also alight. Life. It flickered for a moment before dying away leaving him with a new strength. 'That's right, Life is the soul of my armor, I guess I can't die that easily after all' he thought. Touma shut his eyes and drifted into a kind of half-sleep. It could have been hours, or even minutes before the first noises startled him into snapping his eyes open and reaching for his bow, never minding that he wasn't strong enough to draw it. "Over here, I felt it, a flicker of something!"

"I think I may have seen a glow…"

The next thing Touma knew, nine pale oval shapes were leaning over him. He blinked for a moment, watching in puzzlement as nine faces blurred into view. Ryudo, Reika, his sister Leeanna, Seiji, Sakura, Shin, Sali, Shu, and Nadeshiko. "Oh great, so I'm hallucinating now." he muttered.

"Hallucinating?" his sister sounded puzzled, "no, we're right here" she reached over and tapped his forehead, "your kanji led us to you."

Shu reached over and helped Touma into a sitting position. Privately he thought the blue-haired teen looked like death warmed over already. If there was any hope of saving him, they'd have to do something soon. "What's going on?" Touma asked, voice slurred over.

"It's a long story" Reika answered him.

She knelt next to him and pulled his helmet off. She pushed damp locks of blue hair out of his face, shuddering at how clammy his skin felt, "we'll explain later, are you alright?" Touma couldn't help it, he knew Rei didn't deserve it, but he turned an icy glare on her, "Is dying alright?" She bit her lip and pulled back a little. Shu frowned at Touma, "It looks like death makes you cranky"

"Stop it both of you" Shin interjected, "this isn't the time, nor the place for that!" he turned to Seiji, "do you think you can do anything about this?" he waved his hand to take in the whole scene.

Seiji hesitated for a moment, "I-I don't know…" he said uncertainly, "I've never tried to cure someone of poison…I just don't know."

"Try at least!" Reika begged him, "we can't just let him die like this!"

Touma blinked groggily at her, he suddenly felt ashamed at her, she'd only been trying to help after all. "Rei, I'm sorry, I …" he started to mumble.

"Yeah, me too." Shu began.

"Shush you two" she chided them, "let's save the apology for after we get out of here."

"Okay, I'm going to give this a shot." Seiji announced, effectively changing the subject.

He tightened his grip on his no-datchi, a frown of concentration creasing his brow as he channeled his energy through the chill metal of the sword. It was an exhausting process, especially since he'd spent so much power in lighting up the darkness. Wisdom flickered briefly on his forehead, and then the Sword of Halo flared to life, flames of brilliant emerald-green licking up and down the length of the blade. "Now or never" he muttered, reaching out to grab Touma's metal-clad hand, which he place on the hilt of the sword, next to his own. He heard Touma gasp in shock as he felt the healing energy flow through his body. Seiji's breath hissed between his teeth as he concentrated, seeking out the poison which lingered like a black smoke in his friend's blood. It was difficult, and the engulfing darkness didn't help at all, keeping his power to a mere minimum. If only there was some light source nearby… "AH!" a startled gasp went up from the ten teens as an intensely bright light flooded the room as if someone had flipped a switch.

"What the…?" Sali shielded her eyes with her hand and blinked at the source of the light.

It took a moment for everyone's eyes to adjust to the bright lights but still al anyone could see was a dark silhouette.

"Tsk, tsk, Ronins" Taru's voice chided them, "you wouldn't be trying to cure my lovely poison now would you, it took me so long to concoct it."

"And why wouldn't we?" Shu spat, almost as if the words left a bad taste in his mouth.

"My, my you sure talk big, but can you actually back that up?" Taru cocker head to one side and drew Screamer from behind her back.

"Oh not the head again." Shin moaned, he was really beginning to dislike that thing.

"Shall we find out just what your capable of?" she continued, ignoring him, "I know for a fact that you can't have had the amulets or the armor for more than a few hours, let's see how well you wield the power without the other little Ronins to back you up."

**TBC...**

**Author's Note:** Until next time. Ja ne.


	8. Chapter 7

**Rating: **T

**Pairings:** Future selves: RyoxMia, CyexCelena, KentoxKahlan, RowenxLee, and SagexSaphrita. Past Selves: CyexCelena and RyoxMia. Kids: Touma+Sakura+Touma.

**Disclaimer:** I only own the RW DVDs and my OCs, my friends own their OCs

**SSSSSSSSS **scene change

_italics_ telepathy

"yap yap yap" talk

'yap yap yap' thoughts

**Past**

**Meets**

**Future**

**Chapter 7**

Ryudo, Reika, Leeanna, Sakura, Shin, Sali, Shu, and Nadeshiko grabbed their weapons and took up a protective position in front of Seiji and Touma. "Finish it up Seiji" Ryudo said grimly, "there's no time to waste here."

"My isn't that sweet?" Taru giggled, "but I don't think I'm going to give you a chance to 'finish it up'!"

She swung Screamer before her, sending an arch of pure power lancing towards the eight standing Ronins. It collided with them in an explosion of multicolored lights. Reika and the others were flung back against a wall, momentarily dazed by the impact. Shu, on the other hand, just crossed his arms in front of his face, and stood his ground. He skidded back a few inches, but remained standing, blocking Seiji and Touma from the blast. When the lights faded, his armor was scorched and smoking, and he was gasping for breath. "SHU!" Seiji exclaimed, stunned. With a strangled gasp, Shu pitched forward, barely stopping himself from hitting the floor by using his tetsubo as a support. "No" Touma protested weakly, struggling to get back to his feet.

"Ugh, what…?" Shin looked up from the floor; he'd fallen to his hands and knees after colliding with the wall.

"Oh no…Shu!" Nadeshiko tried to climb back to her feet; her meeting with the stone hadn't been pleasant either.

She'd been dizzy before, one too many blows to the head had knocked her vision askew. She was seeing double, and both versions of Shu were in bad shape. "Goodness, how stubborn of you" Taru sounded surprised, "I suppose self-sacrifice is noble and all, but you won't live for very long that way." she crossed her arms over her chest, Screamer dangling negligently from her fingers, "I find self-preservation much more rewarding, looking out for number one and all that."

"I-if it'll keep you from killing them…then forget self-preservation" Shu growled, in a broken voice.

He steadied his shaking legs, drawing his strength together to stand without leaning so heavily on his weapon. He pointed the blade end of it at her, "now what have you done with Ryo and the others?"

Taru giggled, "That, my dear Hardrock," she said coyly, "would be telling."

"If you've hurt them…" Ryudo threatened, finally regaining his footing, "I'll…"

"You'll what?" a red eyebrow arched elegantly, "you're hardly in any sort of physical condition to hurt me." she uncrossed her arms and gave them a disappointed look, "I see you're not going to try you're pathetic little attacks again, pity, that was some tasty energy, aren't you going to attack me at all?"

The only reply she received was stony silence. "Oh FINE! I'll tell you what happened to those other Ronins." she threw her hands up in the air, tossing Screamer as well. The skull headed staff hung in mid-air, awaiting retrieval, "They will wake to find themselves in a situation much like yours…split up in a large area, poor Alter though, she did take the brunt of my poison, she's probably a corpse by now."

"She is NOT!" Sali shouted, balling her hands into fists in frustration.

"We're a lot tougher than you think." Reika growled, she'd gotten back to her feet and had settle into a fighting stance; feet slightly apart, sais held out in front of her.

"Oh spare me" Taru rolled her eyes, "with Strata down, you're out a valuable warrior, and even all seventeen of you will be no match for me, especially not you ten, with you limited knowledge of you armor and amulets and all." a thoughtful look crossed her face, "I think I'll go play with the other Ronins for awhile, but I'm not going to leave you to entertain yourselves" she batted her lashes girlishly, "that would be terribly inhospitable of me." She snatched Screamer out of the air and turned it over in her hands, "Let's see now, this should do the job." a blade flicked out of the butt of the staff.

She hurled it into the ground, right in front of Touma, who pulled himself backwards, eyes widening in panic. "On no, not again!" Shu cried as a crack appeared in the floor, the only difference being that this time the bottom was visible, and what they saw wasn't much on an improvement. Sharpened stakes glittered coldly up at them from about a hundred feet down. Skeletons of other humans were impaled upon them; arms reaching imploringly skywards, fragments of bone littered the bottom of the chasm as well. "Have fun you guys!" Taru waved cheerily, Screamer zooming back to her hands, and blinked out of view.

"What the?" Shin gasped as a wind blew at his hair.

That simple wave seemed to have called up a tornado, a veritable typhoon that blew at everyone from behind, pushing them forward and flinging them towards the void. The ten Ronins dug in their heels and struggled against it. Their helmets were pulled off, flying across the wind with terrible force, locks of hair whipped violently around their faces and into their eyes. But the pull was too strong even for Shu to resist, footholds were lost, and the warriors blew like dead leaves before the wind, scattered to and fro. Seiji skidded along the ground, fingers seeking some kind of hold. 'Forget this' he thought, stabbing the blade of his sword into the stone beneath him, using it as an anchor. He saw his sister do the same with her staff and saw Sali, Leeanna, and Nadeshiko either grab the staff or her. He flung out on arm to catch Shin's hand as he blew past. Their hands clasped and Seiji drew him closer so he could grip the sword. Ryudo, Reika, Touma, and Shu were too far off for him to grab, and they vanished from sight. 'NO!' he cried out mentally, knowing that any sound he made would be swept away in the gale. It wasn't possible for Taru to win that easily! It just wasn't, but there was no way for them to survive those horrible spikes… The winds buffeted at him and Shin for a few more moments before dying away. Seiji released his death grip on Shin and the sword's hilt and scrambled to his feet and rushed over to the edge of the crack to peer over the lip with Shin and the others behind him. An incredulous grin spread its way over his face, and he sighed in relief. "Geez, you guys had me worried."

"Stop talking and get us out of here!" Shu snapped.

For instead of plummeting to their (excruciatingly painful) deaths the Ronins had managed to keep themselves from falling. Shu had jabbed the bladed end of the tetsubo into the sheer rock of the drop off. He dangled from the iron staff, supported only by his grip on it. Reika looked up towards where Seiji and the others were standing, a smile appeared on her face, "Any day now Seiji", she cracked. She had her arms wrapped around Shu's waist. She hadn't had the time to draw her sais when falling, and it was only dumb luck that Shu had managed to catch her hand. He'd pulled her in and latched her arms around his back, telling her to hold tight. Fortunately, they'd been sheltered from the violent gusts of wind, though the occasional blast would pummel them, keening with a wail like lost souls through the crevice. "I'll get up on my own thanks" Ryudo grunted. Unlike his sister he'd had his katanas out already and had jabbed them into the stone, and hung from the sword's hilts. Gripping one sword tightly he pulled the other one out. Stabbing it into the rock again and doing likewise with the other sword he slowly made his way back up to the top. "I gotcha" Shin reached over and grasped Ryudo's wrist, hauling him over the edge.

"I don't think I'm going to like heights much after all this." he grinned weakly.

Shin returned it, and then they all turned their attention back to their friends' predicament. "Darn, I think you guys are a little too far down" Seiji muttered, realizing that Shu and Reika were out of his reach.

"Oh, I don't think so" Shin shrugged, "just grab my ankles and lower me down."

It took a moment but eventually that's what they did. Seiji braced his feet against the ground and slowly dropped him down. Shin had his yari in his hands, and he shoved the crab-like end down towards Shu, clamping the blades over his friend's wrist. "Hold tight" he warned him. Reika tightened her grip on Shu's waist, leaning her cheek against the metal of his armor. Stones and small rock outcroppings dug into her stomach as she was dragged up the cliff face. She was grateful for her protective armor, knowing that her torso would have been lacerated in countless places by the sharp stones with it. Seiji leaned back even farther, hauling with all his might against the terrible weight. Shin had made it back over the edge and was pulling hard as well, rocking back on his heels as he strained against it. Whatever material his weapon was made of was put to the test as it hauled two Ronins in full armor up out of the crevice. Hardrock and Stars both landed with identical oof's on the stone. Reika groaned and sat up; rubbing her head ruefully. "Man, I lose more helmets that way" Shin grumbled. Shu chuckled and ruffled his hair.

"Where's Touma?" Sakura asked, voice suddenly concerned again.

Leeanna gasped in panic, visions of a cerulean armored figure impaled upon those terrible spikes flashing before her eyes. The nine of them exchanged frightened glances and scrambled back over to the edge, eyes searching frantically for any sign of Touma. "Oh man oh man oh man oh man" Shu said over and over, like a mantra. He wasn't sure if it was a blessing or a curse that he couldn't find any sign of Touma. "**TOUMA!**" Leeanna cupped her hand around her mouth and hollered down into the depths. Her voice echoed weirdly, bouncing around and back. "Must you yell?" a pained voice strained weakly back up to them, "my head hurts enough already."

"Touma?" Ryudo asked, barely able to keep his voice from cracking with emotion, "where are you?"

"I'd wave, but then I'd turn into a pasta strainer."

"Ever cynical." Nadeshiko practically sobbed with relief.

"Wait, I see him!" Sali interrupted them.

She gestured wildly towards a shadowed part, further down the wall than any of the others had fallen. A slightly lighter splotch of blue stood out against the deep cobalt of the shadows. "Darn, and I thought you guys were out of reach" Seiji shook his head, running his fingers through his hair.

Touma's voice echoed up the abyss, "Don't even think about it guys, it's too dangerous for you to try and pull me out."

"What was it Taru was saying? Self-sacrifice is noble and all, but not very practical" Sakura snapped at him.

A tired chuckle could barely be heard in response. "How do we get him up?" Sali said worried, biting at her lower lip.

"I wish Rowen or Sage were here" Sakura said under her breath, "we need a strategy."

"We'll come up with something" Leeanna said, her voice determined, "we have to."

"Hmm," Shin thought to himself.

Seiji looked at him, "What's on your mind Shin?"

Shin looked up, "Oh just something Cye told me about my amulet's power."

Sali glanced at her brother, "What did he say?"

"He told me that each of the amulets has a special item that it can create from a piece of one of the planets or the sun."

Ryudo's eyes shined, "Do you think you can create this item? It may be something we can use to help Touma."

"I think so, but I don't know how long it will last, the item is a water chain created from the core of the planet Neptune, I don't even know if it will stretch that far though."

"Well give it a try anyway, it's better that nothing" Nadeshiko pointed out.

**SSSSSSSSS**

Touma clung to the small jutting boulder with fingers gone numb from gripping. His feet blindly sought footholds, but to no of little avail. He was tired, so tired, and fought to keep his eyes from slipping shut, though it felt as though a tiny lead weight had been tied to the end of each lash. He could vaguely hear the murmur of his friends' and his sister's voices as they debated how best to get him out, but he knew his time was growing short. The poison spread like black sludge through his body, and despite his brave words, he seriously did not want to die. A wave of dizziness seemed to overcome him, and he had to consciously tell himself to keep his grip. The whole world seemed to be spinning around him, the only real thing being the rock he was pressed up against. The pounding of his heart seemed to grow until it filled his ears, his body shaking with each convulsion. His arms screamed out from exertion, his muscles needed rest. "TOUMA!" Seiji leaned over the edge and hollered down. Touma winced a little as the cry reverberated through his sore skull. "Any ideas?"

"We're going to toss down a chain made from the water amulet's power, you need to hold onto it tightly since we don't know how long it with last, hopefully it will get you into our reach though."

Touma heaved a sigh, at least the plan was better that nothing. He tilted his head back and peered through blurry eyes up towards the light of the room overhead. He could just make out his eight friends and his sister (though mostly just by the colors of their armors) and gritted his teeth in determination. There was no WAY he was going to die here. "Alright go ahead."

**SSSSSSSSS**

"Are you certain that this will work?" Shu didn't sound very convinced.

"No, not at all" Ryudo replied, "but under the circumstances, we don't exactly have many options."

"Right" Sakura nodded and rubbed her hands together, "let's give it a shot then."

"You sure about this 'Kura?" Seiji asked, not very pleased with the notion of his sister at being at such risk.

"Even if I wasn't, it can't be helped" she replied grimly, "after all, I am one of the lightest out of all of us…"

Leeanna opened her mouth to protest, but she cut her off. "Yes, I am lighter than you. The less strain we put on our arms, the better."

The 'plan' they had concocted wasn't much, but then, their resources had been very limited. Basically, they were going to create a 'human chain' while Shin, Reika, Seiji, Sali, and Nadeshiko would pull Touma up with the water chain. Between Shu and Ryudo, they'd managed to pry Seiji's Sword of Halo out of the rock. They'd pounded the blade back into the stone about three feet from the edge, creating an anchor. There had been a bit of grumbling about that on Seiji's part, but it was necessary. Shu would link his ankles around the sword's hilt (they'd shoved it down that far), and he'd have a death grip on Ryudo's ankles. Wildfire had his hands clamped around Leeanna's ankles, who in turn, would hold Sakura, and with any luck Touma would be have been hauled up far enough for them to grab him. "Alright Shin throw down the chain and lets see how far up we can get him so the others can grab him." Seiji said calmly.

**SSSSSSSSS**

'Okay, I can do this nooo problem' Touma thought as he strained his muscles to grab the glowing sky-blue chain. He twisted the chain around his hand then reached up and grabbed it with the other hand. "Okay" he called up to the others. The pressure on his arms and fingers eased a little as they pulled him upwards, but not a whole lot since he had to use them to hold onto the chain. The climb toward the rocky ceiling of the cavern was slow though, a snail's crawl, and he hoped that he would reach the top before the item in which he held onto disappeared. "Just a little farther" came a slightly strained voice from above him. Touma tilted his head back and looked up to meet a pair of violet eyes. Momentarily forgetting the situation, he cracked a grin, "Your face is turning red Sakura." She scowled at him from behind her sapphire colored hair that was falling over her face like a curtain. "Let's string you up by you ankles and we'll see what color you turn!" then her expression sobered, "Can't you guys go any faster than that?" she called up to Shin and the others.

"Not really, not unless you want it to disappear sooner than it's going to" Sali replied through clenched teeth as she helped her brother, Reika, Seiji, and Nadeshiko pull Touma out of the crevice. Murphy's Law: anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, just as that thought passed through Touma's mind, the chain vanished. Sakura may have screamed, she wasn't sure. There was a terrible lurch in her gut as she stretched as far as she could, absolutely certain that she wasn't going to be able to reach… Then their palms slammed together with an audible crash of armor. Sakura twisted her fingers around Touma's hand, breath hissing in pain as her shoulder was wrenched downward, a horrible popping noise accompanying it. She thought she heard cries of pain from one or perhaps several of the others as they too felt the sudden increase in weight. An involuntary gasp ripped from her throat as she felt herself slide downward a little. A faint cry from above and a sudden tightening in the grip around her ankles (somewhat lower than it had been) told Sakura that Leeanna must be losing her grip. Oh no no no! she felt her eyes go wide in panic, and then forced herself to stay calm, the last thing she needed to do right now was to lose her head. Touma's finger clenched spasmodically around her hand, and he craned his head upward to meet her eyes. "Let go 'Kura" he said, voice remarkably steady, "we'll just fall…and take Leeanna and Ryudo along with us it we go, you don't have a choice!"

"I will not!" she snapped in return, to both statements, "We won't lose anyone else that we care about! Do I make myself clear? Now be quiet and concentrate on keeping your grip!"

Touma's mouth shut with a click. For a brief moment, he stared at her in complete bewilderment. They had their whole world to worry about saving; it wasn't just about their group of friends. But then again, this was Sakura they were talking about. She'd always kept an eye on him, despite the fact that he was older than her. So fiercely protective of them all. 'One of these days, you won't be able to haul me out of the fire 'Kura, them what'll you do? What'll I do for that matter?' This was hardly the time or place to wonder such things. Sakura locked her eyes to his, and he saw a terrible determination burning in those violet orbs…that and a smoldering pain. She meant it when she said that the others weren't going to lose anyone ever again. Without a second thought Touma pulled himself upward, tilted his head back and brushed his lips against hers. He heard Sakura squeak in surprise and jerk her head backward, almost letting go of him, but she kept her tight grip on his wrist steady. This time she stared at him in confusion. 'Now why the heck did I go and do that?' A part of him hoped desperately that she'd chalk it up to some spur of the moment thing…maybe being so close to death. But the other part of him wanted desperately for her to take it at face value…and he had NO idea where that thought came from.

**SSSSSSSSS**

Leeanna bit her lip and squeezed her eyes shut, forcing all her concentration into keeping the tentative grip on her friends. If she were to let go, both Sakura and Touma would fall…NO! She wouldn't let herself think of that! They were going to get out of this, and then they'd find the others Ronins… "One hurdle at a time. God Shu, pull us up! I can't keep doing this forever!" Her arms screamed at her to release the strain, and her joints groaned in painful agreement. There just was no way to ignore the growing ache in her shoulders, or the grip Ryudo had on her ankles; as though someone had wrapped bands of white-hot iron where her friend's hands were. Leeanna was vaguely aware of Sakura talking, but all she caught was the determined, desperate tone in her voice, and she realized with a sinking feeling that even she was beginning to lose faith in this whole endeavor. Back at the lip of the ridge, things were about as successful. Shu was having a terrible time keeping his ankles locked around the hilt of the sword, and his grip on Ryudo's feet. "Hey Ryudo!" he shouted, "I can't hold this for much longer, do we have Touma yet or not!" Ryudo just barely heard Shu's shout, despite the fact that his friend was right above him. His arms groaned in protest at the weight of three people, and he could only imagine what Hardrock's burden would be. He craned his neck around to try and catch a glimpse of the goings-on below. A smile of pure, tired relief lit his face. "We've got him! Go ahead and pull us out!"

**SSSSSSSSS**

One second, Sakura was locked in a two-way confused gaze with Touma, and the next, the screeching sound of metal of rock grated in her ears. She realized with a start that the metal was her armor…and Touma's, and Leeanna's…dare she hope? They were moving up! "Alright Shu!" she shouted, adding a vote of confidence to the monumental effort her friend was contributing. "Almost there! Don't give up now cuz!"

"Don't worry 'Kura" Shu grunted from between clenched teeth, "that was never an option!"

He'd managed to haul Ryudo back over the edge. The black-haired swordsman had kept his death grip on Leeanna's ankles and had somehow clambered to his feet to stand beside Shu and help haul their three friends back up the cliff-side. They heard Leeanna mutter in protest as she was knocked all over the rock face. "You think…we can…do this?" Ryudo panted out as they both strained against the weight of three fully armored teens.

"Hey, if I can…hold you three…then this should be a…cinch!" Shu managed a tired, but still relatively cheerful grin in return, "Don't tell me I'm…the only one with…faith in us! Now be quiet and…**PULL!**"

The two warriors dug in their heels and jerked backwards with all their strength. A cry of alarmed surprise went up from all five throats as Leeanna, Sakura, and Touma rocketed over the edge and slammed into Shu and Ryudo, sending all five down in a tangled knot of armor, weapons, arms, legs, fists…

"Ow! That's my LEG you're standing on!"

"Move your blasted foot or I swear I'll…"

"I don't know who's hand that is, but it had better MOVE!"

"ACK! Who's sword is that!"

"HEEENNTAAAAIII!"

It took a few minutes, but eventually, they managed to sort out who's limbs belonged to whom, not to mention the various pointy implements…while the others just stood there laughing their heads off at the sight of them. By the time things were back to the way they should be, however, Touma had been reduced to a shivering wreck. His skin had gone milk white, and his pupils had dilated so far that only a sliver of cerulean iris could still be seen. Blue bangs hung limply into his eyes, utterly soaked with sweat. The exertion from gripping onto the chain coupled with the poison in his system had taken its toll. "Seiji, can't you do something?" Leeanna asked, her eyes wide with terror and hope swirling around until one could not be told from the other. Halo gulped, his eyes never leaving his friend's shuddering form. "I'll try" he managed to whisper, as he walked over to the Sword, still embedded as it was into the rock. With a mighty yank, he pulled the blade from the stone. He quickly turned back to his dying friend and knelt down beside him. The others backed off a bit to give his some room to work. Seiji took Touma's hand and wrapped it firmly around the hilt of the sword, keeping Strata's fingers in place by clamping his own hand over the other's. He closed his eyes and frowned in concentration. It seemed as though the sword read his intention, for it burst into emerald flame at Seiji's touch just as before. The only true difference between the last attempt and this time was that the fire seemed to begin at the tip of the blade, and spread like wildfire down to the hilt, over the joined hands of the two Ronins, and up Touma's arm. The blue-haired warrior's eyes and mouth opened wide as his entire body was engulfed in verdant fire. But instead of the usual cerulean orbs, his eyes glowed an eerie green color, and flame the same hue seemed to pour from his mouth. Reika squeaked in alarm, one hand coming up to her lips as she watched in horror. Sali squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. This whole procedure couldn't possibly worsen Touma's condition, all things considered. Shin just flinched away from the spectacle; his skin crawled at the thought of being set a flame…

The frown of Seiji's brow deepened as he poured all his energy into the sword, using it as a channel to help him focus and direct his power. Touma shuddered once as the flames seemed to seep into his armor. Azure and emerald glows flashed in rapid succession off of the cobalt metal before fading away. "Is that it?" Nadeshiko asked, voice hesitant. As if in answer, Touma suddenly slumped forward, groaning in either pain or just plain old fatigue. "Touma!" Sakura moved forward so quickly it was almost inconceivable. She caught her friend's shoulders, barely keeping him from striking the ground, "Are you alright?"

"I'm okay…just kind of dizzy…" he replied, forcing his eyes to focus. It wasn't easy. He struggled into a sitting up position, facing her. "You don't have to worry about me."

"But I do you know" she replied, a very somber look on her face, "if I didn't, we'd be sweeping you up in pieces!"

Seiji was shaking like a leaf, the huge amount of energy he'd expended leaving him weak and drained. Ryudo knelt next to him, looped his friend's arm over his shoulders and got back to his feet. "I can walk on my own" Halo muttered.

"Suuuure you can". Shu crossed his arms and tilted his head to one side, watching Touma and his cousin, "Hey Ryudo" he remarked to Wildfire, "I think we may have left Sakura hanging upside down too long."

"Hmm?" Ryudo looked up from helping Seiji get his footing back, "what makes you say that?"

A rather impish grin played around Shu's mouth, "Because I think she's looking a tad bit red in the face, don't you?"

Ryudo laughed aloud, "You sure? I could have sworn she was blushing!"

Sakura swatted irritably at them, a slight scowl on her face. "Eep! Sorry!" they both backed away.

"Now isn't the time for this guys." Seiji reminded them, a strained and grim look on his face.

"We have to find someway out of here!"

"Helllooo!" Shu waved his hand around, indicating the cavern. "There is no way in or out! We don't even know how we GOT here! Remember!"

"Ummm…what about that?" Touma pointed a shaky finger at the 'wall' closest to them.

The mouth of a cave had opened there, a dark and ominous portal that lead to who-knew-where. "When did that happen?" Reika demanded incredulously, "that definitely wasn't here before!"

"Does it matter?" Nadeshiko asked in a dry tone of voice, "it looks like that's our only way in or out of this place!"

"I don't like it" Sali glared at the opening, "since it IS the only way in or out, it's obviously a trap."

Leeanna nodded in agreement, "That's where Taru **WANTS** us to go!"

Seiji sighed tiredly, "We don't have any choice. We have to find the others, and if we have to go up against Lady Hyena again, then so be it."

Everyone exchanged significant glances, Seiji was right, no matter how badly they were hurting, they still had to keep going. A sheepish grin stretched across Shin's face, "Uh guys? You do realize, we're sort of…missing armor…"

The others blinked at him in surprise. Ryudo was the first one to make any sense out of that comment. "Our helmets! They blew off when Taru blasted us with that thing!"

Shin groaned, "Man, I am so sick and tired of losing that thing!"

"How do we get them back though?" Sali peered across the chasm, spotting both her helmet and her brother's on the opposite side.

She was fairly sure that the other eight were somewhere down in the pit, more than likely staked out atop those spikes. "If we just armored down, wouldn't they disappear and go back with our armor to wherever it stays when we're not using it?" Touma suggested, "We should be alright in sub-armor, we can move quicker and more quietly too."

"That's genius!" Sakura grinned in delight, "I think you've been hanging around Rowen too long! You're starting to think like him."

Touma flushed and muttered, "It's just common sense…"

One by one, they sent their armor back to its resting place, and watched as the two visible helmets went up in puffs of cherry blossoms. "Well, that takes care of that" Sali said rather decisively, "Now we just have to head though there" she pointed at the looming darkness of the cave, and everyone gulped reflexively.

"Not much of a choice, is it?" Ryudo raised as eyebrow, "stay here and risk being attacked again, or go there and risk being attacked on the way."

"Well" Reika said with forced cheerfulness, "at least it'll be too dark for Taru to see us!"

With that not-quite-optimistic comment, the ten teens gathered their wits together and entered the cave-like opening. Not ten feet in, everything went pitch black. It was utterly impossible to see one's hand in front of one's face. The ten teens walked close together, making sure to keep a grip on someone else's shoulder or hand. They all go the feeling that if they got lost in the darkness, they'd stay that way. "I seriously don't like this." Shu muttered, "I swear there's something wrong with this place."

"Of course there is." Nadeshiko replied absently, "we are in the Dynasty, after all…"

But she too was looking around warily. She didn't like the encroaching shadows either. They were all practically walking on each other's heels, no one wanted to get separated in the dark. "Do you think we could have a little light here?" Leeanna asked in a strained tone of voice. She'd never been afraid of the dark, but there was something very, very wrong with this. "I've been trying" Seiji responded, his voice was obviously only steady though a great deal of self control. "But I'm afraid I can't manage it" he paused and swallowed hard, "It's almost as it these shadows are eating up whatever energy I use."

"So we're walking blind then! Is that what you're saying!" Touma demanded.

"Something like that" was the reply.

A string of muttered cries of frustration could be heard, not that it was possible to tell who uttered them, closely followed by a soft thump from behind them all. "WHAT THE HELL!" Ryudo shouted, as they all turned at one and gaped at where a square of light should have been.

"The door…" Leeanna breathed quietly, "it's…gone!"

"Darn" Touma muttered, "we're stuck in here!"

"So, it we can't go back, and we can't see any other way out…" Sali hazarded.

"Then we go forward" Reika finished grimly, "it's the only option we've got."

"Which means it's **EXACTLY** what Taru wants us to do!" Shu pointed out angrily.

"Going down this whole passageway is exactly what she wants us to do as well." Shin answered quietly, "Look, we were going to go forward anyway, what difference does it make whether or not we have a way back out?"

"A good point" Touma sighed and turned back to the others, or at least, where he thought they were.

"Well," Sakura said almost too quietly to hear, "I guess we just have to keep going huh?"

"Exactly" Seiji nodded, though he knew the others couldn't see it, "everyone hold tight to someone else, we don't want to get separated."

"Yes boss-man" Touma said in a deadpan tone.

"Nice to know you're feeling up to cracking jokes again." Leeanna muttered, wincing in pain as someone stepped on her foot.

"Better than getting depressed." Reika said firmly, grasping someone's hand and pushing forward. "Come on, moving targets are harder to hit than ones that stand around."

**TBC...**

**Author's Note:** R and R please, thank you. Ja ne.


	9. Chapter 8

**Rating: **T

**Pairings:** Future selves: RyoxMia, CyexCelena, KentoxKahlan, RowenxLee, and SagexSaphrita. Past Selves: CyexCelena and RyoxMia. Kids: Touma+Sakura+Touma.

**Disclaimer:** I only own the RW DVDs and my OCs, my friends own their OCs

**SSSSSSSSS **scene change

_italics_ telepathy

"yap yap yap" talk

'yap yap yap' thoughts

**Past**

**Meets**

**Future**

**Chapter 8**

The endless dark stretched on forever, seemingly boundless. Nothing moved within it, everything slept. Two greenish-orange orbs flashed dimly in the shadows, peering around helplessly for something. White Blaze rumbled discontentedly to himself. True, he was a tiger, and as such needed very little light to see by. Very little being the operative words. The blackness was a total, that even he was having a hard time finding his way around. His sense to smell and otherworldly mystical attributes were all he relied on for the time being. Linked as he was to the Ronins, he knew without even being near them that there was something horribly wrong. He padded through the inky darkness silently, heading to where the feeling of 'wrongness' and decay was located. His keen tiger eyes easily located the seven separate glows scattered here and there all around him, luckily some were close by each other. Each of them was a different distance from his currant position, but he was only interested in the violet one. The others were still fine, if a little bruised. He could tell without even trying. It could have been a few moments later, or half an eternity before White Blaze reached his goal. In the darkness, it was impossible to tell. But that didn't matter. A silhouette outlined in amethyst luminescence was just ahead. The tiger crept forward and nosed the still figure, a soft growl of concern rose up from his throat. Celena was sprawled in an ungainly heap. Her helmet had rolled free, resting about four feet away. It glowed dimly itself, a separate beacon. Her face was ghostly pale, quite near the shade of White Blaze's fur. While that was no problem for a tiger, he was sure it was not a good sign for a human. The young girl's features were twisted in pain, and her breath came in short, sharp gasps. Her fingers clutched aimlessly at the stone floor, seeking for something only she could see. It only to White Blaze about four seconds to sniff out the source of the trouble. Buried in his friend's bicep like some kind of obnoxious thorn was the claw she'd been struck with. The skin around the puncture wound was slowly turning an ebony even darker that the shadows around them. Clotted blood seeped from the gash, dark droplets pooling inside the armor before spilling out onto the ground. Blaze pulled back in shock and disgust. The blood just smelled wrong. It was difficult to see, but the color didn't appear quite right… This was not something he could deal with himself. He needed to find the others, for Celena's sake. Narrowing huge chocolate brown eyes in a startlingly human-like expression, the tiger peered around him to discern which of the glows was closest. After a brief moment of thought, he loped off into the shadows once again.

**SSSSSSSSS**

Rowen's head was killing him. He sat forlornly on the cool stone, wondering where on earth he was, where the others could be, and how in heaven's name he was going to find them. He could barely stand; what little of the room he could see kept swimming in and out of focus. He'd been forced to remove his helmet and set it on the ground, for the metal rubbed at a particularly large goose-egg type bump on the back of his skull. A chill, wet something pressed to the back of his neck caused him to yelp in surprise and jump forward, much to the displeasure of his poor, aching head. He whirled around and made out a large, white shape with something red on its back, appearing almost like a phantom in the pale glow given off by his armor. "You okay Rowen?" the red thing asked.

"Ryo, White Blaze?" he asked, quite stunned to see his friend and the tiger, "What's wrong? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Celena?"

The tiger's soulful brown eyes seemed to bore right into his cerulean blue ones. Rowen immediately had a premonition that something was very, very wrong. A sudden flash of insight supplied him with the answer to his question. "It's the poison, isn't it?" he asked the tiger and his friend. Ryo nodded, thought he knew Rowen couldn't see it, "Yes, Celena's very sick and he had to come find us, I just happened to be close enough to you for Blaze here to find me" Something in White Blaze's eyes affirmed what Ryo had just told him and Rowen let loose a string of profanity that should have scorched the air. "What do you want us to do?" he asked the tiger, "I don't think I can even walk, and besides, we're not the ones with the healing talent…" his voice trailed off at those saucer eyes pinned him with a critical look; a look that said quite clearly that Rowen and Ryo had more options than the tiger had. "You're right" Strata admitted to the unspoken reprimand, "we should try to find Sage, and then find Celena and Touma, and then…the others, I guess."

White Blaze nodded in approval. Rowen tried unsuccessfully to climb to his feet, only to fall back down when his shaky knees refused to have anything to do with his weight. Ryo regarded his attempts for a moment, shook his head, and then reached down to help Rowen. "Alright, guess I can try again." he reached over and took Ryo's hand and hauled himself to his feet, swinging one leg over the tiger's wide back behind Ryo. He paused for a moment before leaning back over to sweep his helmet up off the ground and tuck it under his arm. "So then, let's find hair-boy and get the heck out of here." he said.

**SSSSSSSSS**

Sage was rudely awakened by something wet and slimy being dragged across his face. A scent he'd long ago learned to associate with 'tiger breath' came with it, and he knew without a shadow of a doubt whom his assailant was. "G-get off me Blaze!" he gasped out, no mean feat considering both the smell and the sudden weight on his chest from the tiger's front paws. "He'll get off if you agree to get up." three familiar voices said drolly.

"Rowen, Ryo, Mia?" Sage managed to crack his eyelids just wide enough to catch the site of a smear of blue, red, and yellow.

Unlike Strata, he hadn't landed on his head, and so was spared from both blurry vision and a monster of a migraine. "The same" Rowen answered, going to his knees next to their blond friend. Sage sat up groggily and frowned at him. The only way he was able to see the blue haired Ronin was due to an azure glow that seemed to be coming from his armor. "Do you guys have any idea what happened to us?" he asked to no one in particular.

Mia shook her head, "After that blast of Taru's? Not a clue. But we've got a problem." her voice took on a sudden somber quality. "Celena's hurt, remember that poison stuff she got hit with? Well Blaze here thinks she's really sick."

That got his attention. Sage shook away any last vestiges of unconsciousness and turned back to his friends, ice-blue eye(s) bright with resolve. "Then we have to find her, she could be in really bad shape." he said firmly, not so much as raising an eyebrow at the fact that his friends had just claimed to be taking a tiger's opinion.

"That's what I said" the blue haired teen grinned, giving Sage a hand up. "I guess Blaze came after me, while finding Ryo on the way, since I was already awake, then he led us to you, while we bumped into Mia here, and I'll be willing to bet he could easily find Celena easily enough, and Touma too, since they both got hit by that poison."

"And after that we can find everyone else and get out of this hole in the ground." Halo shuddered a little involuntarily at the encroaching darkness.

He didn't like shadows under the best circumstances, which this wasn't. "My thoughts exactly" Ryo said without a hint of sarcasm. He didn't like their surroundings anymore than Sage did, and he didn't like to think about the others waking up in this, alone and possibly injured in a lifeless darkness. He was especially worried about Ryudo, Reika, Touma, Leeanna, Seiji, Sakura, Shin, Sali, Shu, and Nadeshiko, as they didn't know how to use their armor and amulets, and more likely they wouldn't realize that they could use is to find each other, and heal themselves. 'But their smart kids' he reminded himself resolutely as he helped Sage onto Blaze's back, and hopped up behind him. 'And I shouldn't think of them as kids either, they're easily as old as the rest of us, and they've been working together as a team for most of their lives, which is more than the rest of us can say, they'll be fine.' with his conscience soothed, he concentrated on staying on the tiger and sitting up straight despite his aching head. Ryo, Mia, Sage, and Rowen clung to White Blaze's back as he lead them unerringly through the darkness towards the faint violet glow that was their only clue to Celena's location. The four warriors exchanged uneasy glances. The bond between the armors was telling them that something was very wrong with Celena. A vague feeling of nausea seemed to rise in their throats, and occasionally, they would wince in pain. The tiger screeched to a halt scarcely a half-inch from the crumpled form. The warriors immediately jumped off and knelt down near her. "How bad is it?" Rowen asked quietly.

"If you'd let me take a look, maybe I could tell you." Sage answered shortly, but his tone was so preoccupied that Rowen didn't take any offense.

Halo drew his sword, and set it alight with a single though. He was going to need some light to work by. After a moment of searching for the wound, Sage let out a strangled cry, snagging the other teens' attention. "What is it?" Wildfire asked, feeling a lump develop in his throat.

"L-look at this.."

Ryo, Rowen, and Mia looked over their friend's shoulder, and caught sight of the horrible injury. The nail had broken off, leaving part of the poisoned spike embedded in Celena's arm. The flesh around it was nearly black, and the thick blood that oozed slowly from the cut was tinged with the same shade. "That's not a good thing, is it?" Mia gulped anxiously.

"That's putting it mildly" Sage chewed at his lower lip, trying to think.

White Blaze sniffed at the wound, a low rumbling noise emanating from somewhere deep in his chest. Then his head shot up, and he started off into the darkness. The rumble turned into a growl, and he took off in a streak of white. "HEY!" Rowen cried, lurching to his feet and half-staggering after the cat.

"Let him go, Ro" Ryo said absently, "I'll bet he's going after the other guys, now sit down and be quiet, how do you expect Sage to get anything done with you yelling like that?"

Rowen settled down for a moment, but he couldn't seem to sit still. Restless energy seemed to crackle through his body, and before he knew it, he was pacing back and forth behind the healer, patient, and the two warriors watching him. Sage ignored this, completely engrossed in the task at hand. The archer periodically cast worried glances over at his four friends. The Armor of Halo had begun to glow a bright emerald, but it didn't seem to be helping Celena's condition any. "Rowen?" a weak strain of a voice called from just beyond his field of sight. He looked over his shoulder and noticed Kento staggering into the circle of light given off by the Sword and the glow of his armor. Hardrock was leaning on one side of White Blaze, using the huge cat for support while Cye was draped over the cat's back. "Are you alright?" Strata was at his friends' sides in a heartbeat, concern written on his face.

"I'll live" Kento managed a wan smile, "I thought for sure I was on my own until Furball here showed up and led me to Cye."

He reached down and ruffled the tiger's ears.

"How is he?" Rowen asked his eyes filled with concern.

"I don't know, he was like this when I found him." Kento replied his voice grave.

Rowen walked over and gently pulled Cye off of the tiger's back. He could hear Cye breathing slowly but surely. "Have you tried waking him up?" he asked Kento, putting his hand over Cye's.

"Yeah, but he wouldn't even stir at all, it's like he's in a coma or something." was the reply.

"Let's hope that's not the case" Rowen said looking down at his friend.

"Hey come on Cye wake up." he said, gently shaking his friend.

All he received was a faint groan. Rowen looked up at Kento hopefully. "I think he's coming to, try again." Kento encouraged.

Rowen nodded then turned back to his friend. "Come on Cye, you can pull through" he said gently.

Rowen then felt Cye's hand jerk under his own. Rowen looked at his friend and saw his eyes flutter a little. Then his eyes slowly opened, they're fiery emerald color staring into Rowen's own eyes. "Cye?" Rowen asked concern in his voice.

He blinked, "Yeah, it's me who'd you think I was Rowen?"

"Y-you can hear and see me?" Rowen asked voice rising a little.

The emerald eyes blinked again, "Yeah, why?"

Rowen explained what had happened to Cye after he had used the amulet's power to recover the other ones for the children, going into detail about they're enemy and their current situation as well. "Oh so that's what happened" Cye said thoughtfully as Rowen helped him into a sitting position, "but didn't my future self tell you that the blindness and deafness was only temporarily though?"

"Yeah, but since you never woke up during our fight on the surface I thought that it had become permanent." Rowen explained.

"Oh"

"Hey, what's Sage doing?" Kento frowned and stepped around Rowen, looking to see what had the other three so preoccupied.

Perhaps he saw a little more than he truly wanted to, for all the blood seemed to drain right out of his face. "Wh…what's wrong with Celena?" he stammered.

"I'm guessing it's the poison Taru told us about" Rowen replied solemnly, "she said it would lead to a slow, painful death…"

"In one hour" Kento finished, a look of horror spreading over his face, "is she…did we make it in time?"

"I…" Rowen bit his lip; "I don't know Kento" he finished somewhat lamely.

The quintet stood awkwardly, not wanting to interrupt Sage at his work. It was almost as if they were afraid the slightest noise would send their friend over the brink into oblivion. White Blaze lowered himself down to the stony ground, settled his chin in his paws and waited. After what seemed to be an interminable length of time, a growl ripped its way loose from Sage's throat. He gripped his hands so tightly on the hilt of his sword that any ordinary sword would have shattered into shards of metal. His whole body seemed to reverberate and shake with contained fear, grief, and frustration. The others were shocked at the intensity of the emotions, which screamed along the link between them like an electrical shock. "Sage?" Mia touched her friend's shoulder lightly; almost afraid to hear whatever it was that had drawn such a reaction from the normally taciturn warrior. When Sage turned to face Mia, a suspicious sheen of moisture covered his eyes. "I can't help her." the confession came out barely above a whisper, "I was too late, the poison's hold goes far too deep, I could never hope to be strong enough to bear it." His voice caught on the last few words, as if they were struggling to get out from around the lump in his throat. "No…" Ryo shook his head in denial, "I don't believe it."

"That's…that's not…it's just not possible!" Kento gasped.

White Blaze raised his head, eyes locked on Celena's tortured form. A slow whine, almost like a quiet wail, hung in the air. The sudden, heavy silence was broken as Alter lashed out unconsciously. She arched her back, and an expression of unimaginable pain twisted on her face. A sound like a choked scream wormed its way past her gritted teeth. Sage held out his hand to the others, his fingers clenched around something. He swallowed hard and revealed it to them. The end of the claw Taru had stabbed into their friend lay there. The rest of it was gone. "What…where's the tip?" Rowen frowned.

"That's the problem." Sage's voice was still hushed, "It dissolved inside her, the poison was bad enough, but I think there was something in that spike…another poison maybe, or just darkness"

"You're saying we can't do anything!" Kento demanded tears of rage evident in his eyes, "that we're just going to sit here and let her die! I don't believe this! She's the princess of our world for goodness sake!"

"If there was something I could do, don't you think I would have?" Sage snapped, suppressed emotion coming to the fore, "darn it all Kento I did what I could! We were just too late!"

"Are you positive there aren't any alternatives?" Rowen asked, heading off an argument.

"Unless any of you happen to have an antidote to this poison, then I think not."

A roar split the darkness, and all six heads snapped around to see White Blaze up on his paws, the fur along his spine standing on end as he growled menacingly at something in the shadows. "What's out there?" quick as a thought, Rowen had drawn an arrow and nocked his bow, sighting along the shaft for a target he couldn't see. A soft, quiet chuckle echoed around them all. It was nothing like the shrill, high-pitched shrieking of Taru, nor was it the hissing noise of the skeleton thing Shin had defeated. This could only mean they had a new adversary on their hands. "Ah, poor little Ronins" the smooth voice sighed, "to think, you come to this world to save yourselves, only to die before your time."

"And who the hell are you?" Kento set his tetsubo squarely before him, glaring defiantly out into the dark.

"No one of any consequence" the voice was laced with irony, "merely a humble servant of Mistress Taru."

"The underlings are never humble" Cye muttered, as he stood next to Kento.

The chuckled sounded again, "No, perhaps we are not."

"I think we ought to cut the pleasantries short." Sage said icily, "We all know you're not here to chat with us"

"This is true enough" the voice sounded thoughtful, "I was sent here to kill you, but like everyone, I do enjoy my fun, as of this moment, I'm debating whether it would be more entertaining to watch you suffer as Alter dies, or to toy with you all for a while."

Rowen shot a few arrows off in the general direction of the voice, "What are we, catnip mice!"

"Tut tut Strata…your aim is horrendous, why don't I give you a little light to see by."

A soft flickering glow, much like a candle or torchlight, illuminated the cavern they stood in. Though none of the Ronins knew it, it was similar in every way to the one Reika and the others had found themselves in. Standing only about a dozen feet away was a man none of them recognized. He watched them all with piercing gray eyes, while negligently tossing a dirk back and forth from his right hand to his left. The long knife glinted in the dim light, the double edged blade flickering almost as if it had life. "Now isn't this a pretty little mess you've gotten into?" the man grinned, "now you see why it's never good to get on Mistress Taru's bad side."

He gestured toward Celena's writhing form with the tip of the dirk, "Get my point?"

"Enough talk!" Kento rushed the man, taking a swipe at him with the bladed end of his weapon.

It seemed to score, but suddenly their adversary just wasn't where they'd thought him to be. Instead, he was a few feet off to the left. "Now that was rude" he crossed his arms, "especially when I offer you a way to save your friend."

All six of them were immediately suspicious. "Why would you want to help us?" Rowen raised an eyebrow, "I should think you'd be happy to see us falling apart."

"Oh I am, don't get me wrong," the brown haired man waved a hand hastily, "but the more of you there are, the more of a challenge for me."

"You even sound like Taru" Cye didn't relax his guard at all. He didn't trust this man.

"Say that again and I'll rip your throat out." all veneer of politeness vanished as the man snarled at Torrent, gray eyes going as hard as shards of slate. "It is under her orders that I am here, but I'll dispose of you my own way."

He seemed to get control of himself again, "I have here with me the antidote to the poison which afflicts you friend even as we speak, I believe I an the only soul in the Dynasty who knows this formula, since I was the one who created the poison Taru uses."

"Interesting bit of information." Sage glanced quickly sideways at Celena. He wasn't sure he trusted this man, but time was running short, "How do we know it's even the actual antidote and not another poison?"

"Why would I waste perfectly good ingredients on poisoning a woman who's already dying?" a brown eyebrow arched in question, "that would be rather pointless I think."

"So why not just give us this 'antidote' right now?" Kento demanded to know.

"I have something I would like to ask you first." his gray eyes went somber, "If I should demand that you leave this time frame and return to you world, leaving those who reside here, all in exchange for the antidote, would you do it?"

A puzzled glance was exchanged between the six standing Ronins. What was he getting at? It was Ryo who spoke for them all. "No" the warrior said quietly, tiger-blue eyes locked on those of his adversary, "Celena would never thank us for saving her life it we left this part of time to suffer."

"Besides" Mia spoke up, "we made a promise to Reika to help, our word is our bond."

The nameless man nodded a tiny smile of what could be satisfaction spreading over his face. "That is precisely what I expected you to say" from somewhere inside his sleeve, he produced a vial of bright violet liquid, "this is the antidote, whether or not you choose to use it is entirely up to you."

With a flick of his wrist, he sent the glass flying. Cye caught it deftly, and spent a long moment studying the object in his palm. Before anyone could stop him, White Blaze had crossed over and sniffed the item cautiously, but he did not growl. Apparently the antidote was just that, and not a poison. "Who are you anyway?" Cye asked, swallowed up by curiosity.

"My name is Elian, I serve Taru." he shrugged, "The benefits are to die for."

Elian began to toss the knife back and forth between his hands again, "Well I'm waiting."

"Go for it Cye." Rowen nodded, "We don't have anything to lose."

"Yeah, either we save Celena…or we don't." Kento gulped.

"Right" Torrent nodded, "just keep an eye on that guy, he's not doing this to help us, he has his own agenda, I'm sure of it."

Rowen nodded, allowing the strung arrow to go slack, but he kept it nocked anyway. Cye knelt next to Celena and pulled the other teen into a sitting position, supporting her shoulders. Alter struggled to get away, still gripped by whatever nightmare she dreamt. Cye tightened his grip and tilted the girl's head back, set the vial to her lips and let the antidote trickle down Celena's throat. She grimaced horribly, and coughed at the taste, but she stopped groaning in pain, which was something at least. "I believe there's an old saying where you come from." Elian mused, "'No such thing as a free lunch', I think that's how it goes."

"So what's the catch?" Ryo inquired.

Elian just smiled enigmatically, "We all know I didn't come here to help you, why don't we get down to business?"

No one had a chance to reply; he stopped toying with the dirk, and a sphere of flame the size of a basketball appeared over the palm of his free hand. Without so much as a change of expression, he hurled it at Rowen. The blue haired archer had his bow up in a flash, letting loose an arrow that slammed straight into the fireball. He'd hoped to either negate the flames with his own power of to deflect it, neither worked. All Rowen could do was shield himself with his bow and hope that would be enough. The sphere crashed into his chest, throwing him backwards to the floor. He skidded about five feet before coming to a stop. He sat up with a dazed groan. A quick inspection of his forearm gauntlets revealed that the metal was scorched a little. His bow remained unmarked though. Chuckling in amusement, Elian threw yet another fireball. Rowen attempted to scramble out of range but the ball only increased in size, roaring on him like a miniscule sun. **"SUPER WAVE SMASHER!"** Cye threw his sure kill directly into the path of the oncoming inferno, some of the water sprang away and hit Elian square in the chest knocking him backward. A deafening hiss screamed through the air, and a cloud of steam as thick as pea soup rose up as flames were extinguished. It spread throughout the chamber like fog, rendering visibility down to none. "Damn, where is he!" Kento searched aimlessly around him, eyes seeking any movement.

"Behind you Hardrock!" Elian phased into view just a few inches behind Kento, striking downward with his dirk at the Ronin's back.

But years of constant practice had granted Kento speed most people would never have guessed at, given his bulk. He spun around, metal staff snapping upwards to ward off the blow. "Let me guess, you have x-ray vision too." he grunted, wondering how the gray eyed man had managed to locate him in the mist.

"No fool, the noise you were making drew me to you." Elian laughed shortly, stepping to the right and kicking Kento's legs out from under him.

He winced slightly at the pain that came from slamming his foot into solid metal, and even limped a little as he stepped back to deliver the final blow. He raised his dirk over his head in a two handed grip, a wicked grin stretching his lips. A flicker of gold flashed overhead, and Elian dropped his weapon, clutching at his hands. A golden arrow had pierced his left hand, and sharp head emerging from his palm. "If you could follow sound," Rowen smirked from somewhere in the fog, "then you should have known we could as well."

"Hey Ro, I thought you were out for the count there" Kento grinned at Strata as Ryo helped him up.

The warrior shrugged.

"Didn't you know? Smurfs bounce back!" Rowen chuckled, but kept his eyes locked on Elian.

Their opponent shook brown bangs from his face and pushed himself off the floor, literally. He floated upward about four feet, ripping Rowen's arrow from his hand with a sickening sound. He made a beckoning motion with his uninjured hand, and his long knife zoomed off the floor, hilt thudding home into a sheath at Elian's belt. "I hope you enjoyed that laugh." he growled, "It was your last." He flicked a hand at the three Ronins facing him. Glowing strands of gossamer thread sprouted from the ground, like a malevolent weed. They coiled around Kento, Rowen, and Ryo's ankles, around their legs and holding them tight. "Hey what the…" Kento gaped at the threads, struggling to break free. The glow intensified and he froze.

"I…I can't move!" Rowen gasped, struggling to make his lips shape the words. Elian smiled coldly, tilting his head to one side to regard his captives. Their futile efforts to escape seemed to amuse him. "That's been done before!" Mia's voice made Elian jump visibly before one of her sais, and Sage's sword ripped through both sides of the floating man's tunic, "you just stole Dais' and Rajura's trick"

"Mia, Sage! Get out of here before he…" Rowen tried to warn his friend, exerting all his power in an attempt to reach his bow.

A harsh bark of laughter tore form Elian's throat as he summoned two more threads to ensnare Mia and Sage as well. "You both are just as dense as your friends Stars, Halo." he snickered, clutching his wounded side in an effort to staunch the flow of blood, "I give you credit for scoring a hit on me though, you, Strata, Halo, and Torrent move very quietly."

"Gee…thanks" Mia replied dryly.

"You're quite welcome."

The brown haired man brought both his hands before him lacing his fingers together. The thread's glow intensified sending volts of power through them. The trapped quartet cried out in pain; it felt as if they were being electrified. "Having fun yet?" Elian laughed, increasing the energy flow, zapping them with erg after erg of pure power. With a resounding roar, White Blaze launched himself out of the now thinning steam, slamming his tremendous weight into Elian's back, sending both man and tiger crashing to the floor. The Dynasty warrior rolled free of the slashing claws and snapping teeth, but not unscathed. A long gash on his shoulder seeped crimson blood into the fabric of his clothing. His right hand fell to his waist, and the dirk in its sheath. He pulled the long knife free and brandished it menacingly. "No wonder Taru was so adamant about skinning you for a rug" he snarled.

"**SUPER WAVE SMASHER!"**

No fanfare or comment accompanied the shout of Cye's sure kill. The rush of light-blue and silver energy impacted Elian square in the back. "Good boy Blaze" Torrent congratulated his furry accomplice. The tiger purred loudly in response.

"Nice timing Cye." Ryo grinned, cutting the cords from around his, and Rowen's shins.

Without Elian concentrating on holding the paralysis spell, they were free to move as they pleased. Sage used his sword to cut both himself and Mia from the cords. Kento ripped himself loose and shook off the tattered remnants. He shuddered a little; that attack reminded him too much of previous battles with both Dais and Rajura. Mia had been right about the similarity in the attacks. "What kept you?" Kento asked, "we were about to find out what toast feels like."

"I wasn't sure where you all were" Cye admitted, "and I didn't want to leave Celena alone helpless, she wasn't anywhere near waking up when I heard you five screaming."

"But she was doing better, I take it?" Ryo inquired hopefully.

"Much, whatever the deal is with this guy, he definitely gave us an antidote."

Elian pushed himself up off the ground, groaning with the effort. Two hundred pounds of muscle, bone, and sinew had left him bruised and rather achy. But a small smile of satisfaction flickered on his lips. "Very nicely done" he croaked, once again levitating himself upward, now out of reach, "I would have expected nothing less of the fabled Ronin Warriors."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rowen frowned.

"It means you passed this little test of your skills with the highest marks." Elian made a small gesture with his right hand, "You've won the right to live a little longer, and now I know what you are capable of."

He bowed mockingly at Cye, "You and I have a score to settle, I'll deal with you later."

With that, the air around him blurred and shimmered, and he faded out of view. For a moment, silence reigned. Everyone was slightly stunned by the battle's abrupt ending. White Blaze growled and bared his fangs at the empty spot their opponent had occupied. "Well Cye, looks like you just made yourself another enemy" Kento remarked sarcastically.

"And a pretty damn powerful one at that." Sage mused, then shook himself out of his reverie, "Shouldn't we get back to Celena?"

"Right." Cye nodded and headed back in the direction he'd come from.

The others exchanged a glace and a shrug before following him. Now that the vision impairing steam had cleared away, it was easy to see Celena's fallen form not far away. She appeared to be napping, no longer on the edge of life and death. "Fine time to catch a couple of Zs." Ryo grinned.

"You think we could wake her up now?" Mia asked.

White Blaze moved forward, solving the problem by dragging his tongue over Celena's face, sliming her liberally. Alter coughed harshly, cracking an eye open to glare wearily at the tiger. Blaze purred again, grinning smugly. "That was disgusting." Celena coughed, trying to breath in air that didn't smell and taste like tiger. Her six friends cracked up, laughing out of relief and at the situation. "I don't see what's so funny" Celena muttered, sitting up and dragging the back of her hand over her face, attempting to wipe away the kitty drool. White Blaze nudged his head into his friend's back, helping her up. "Nothing, never mind." Cye grabbed Celena's hand, pulling her to her feet, "How do you feel?"

"Like I was hit by a tractor trailer, why do you ask?" Ocean eyes blinked in puzzlement.

"You had a close call there Celena." Kento confessed, "We didn't think you were going to make it, in fact, you almost didn't."

"**WHAT!**" Celena yelped.

"Take a look at this." Mia grabbed Celena's wrist, pulling her arm around so Alter was confronted with the breach in her armor.

The fact that her skin was still tinged slightly black drove the point home. "The poison?" she asked, voice shaking only slightly.

"Right." Rowen nodded, "It looked even worse than that when we found you."

"So how did you fix it?" Celena frowned, "did Sage…?"

"No" Halo shook his head, "I'm no where near that powerful Cel, believe me, your hour's limit was almost up when we found you."

"Then how…?"

"We kind of got an antidote Lena." Cye admitted, "To be truthful, our newest enemy gave it to us."

"**WHAT!**"

"We don't understand it either!" Torrent attempted to calm his girlfriend, "but the antidote was real enough, it worked, obviously, but we had a rather nasty encounter with what this Elian person was capable of doing."

"Elian huh?" Celena managed a grin, "Is that why most of you look a little singed?"

"Well yeah," Rowen coughed, "but we did get rid of him, didn't we?"

The blue haired archer paused for a moment to consider something, "Though he did say it was only a test, he seemed pretty powerful, I'd bet anything he could have given us a run for our money it he hadn't underestimated us."

"I agree." Cye said grimly, "We were just lucky that he didn't sense my coming up behind him."

"And that you, me, Sage, and Mia got a couple of licks in first, before you hit him again!" Rowen reminded him.

"That too."

"Um, guys?" Celena broke in, "as much as I hate to interrupt you little conversation, can I ask you something? Where is everyone else!"

"You mean the children?" Ryo asked, fidgeting a little, "we're not exactly sure."

"The way we figure it, Taru split us up so we'd be easier to deal with." Rowen said thoughtfully, "So she sicked Elian on us…"

"But who did she send after them?" Sage quirked an eyebrow.

"That's what worries me." Celena frowned, "We have to find them, they're too inexperienced with the armors and amulets, they could be in danger!"

"Touma was hurt pretty badly as well." Kento reminded them, "Not as badly as you, Cel, but that didn't seem to make much difference to Taru, did it?"

"No, not at all" Mia shook her head, "we'd better move it, I feel like a sitting duck out here."

"Looks to me like that's our only way out." Cye pointed a finger to a wall not far from them.

Again, without knowing it, they were heading straight into the same trap the other Ronins had. "We'd better armor down" Kento thought out loud, "we could move quicker that way, and there wouldn't be as much of a power reading to track."

"Good point" Ryo agreed, banishing his armor; the other followed suit, and the delicate fragrance of sakura blossoms masked the scent of scorched stone.

"Celena, I think you better ride Blaze for a while." Cye said sternly, "You're not completely recovered yet, and the less chances we have to take, the better."

Alter made a face, but didn't argue with him. Her knees felt like Jell-O, so she knew protesting was futile. Trying to ignore the way her head was spinning; she slid onto the tiger's wide back, getting a firm grip in the thick fur of the neck ruff. "Let's move 'em out troops!" Kento grinned irrepressibly, leading the way into the darkness of the tunnel opening.

**SSSSSSSSS**

Reika growled softly under her breath as she stubbed her toe for the umpteenth time. She figured she was somewhere in the middle of the group of teens since each of her hands were clasped by someone else's on either side of her. "Are you alright Rei?" she heard Shin murmur quietly from just behind her. She smiled reassuringly in the dark, knowing he'd al least feel it through the link they shared, though not see it. "Course…I'm just kind of…" Reika didn't finish her statement. A yawn split her jaw, and she stumbled again during the momentarily loss of balance.

"Tired?" Sali's amused tone rumbled back to her as she regained her footing; the whole line had stopped for her to do so.

"Yes that." Stars shook ebony locks out of her eyes, though the movement was rather redundant; what was she going to be seeing in the thick velvet shadows?

"How long have we been here anyway?" Touma's voice came from farther behind than Shin's had.

"Here in the tunnels or here in the Dynasty?" Leeanna asked sensibly.

"Here in the Dynasty." Touma specified, the inflection of his tone was making it clear that he was frowning thoughtfully, "It seems as though it's been forever"

"We have no way of knowing how long we were unconscious in that chamber." Seiji spoke up, "It was apparently less than an hour, but there's really no guarantee"

"I'd say it's probably about dinner time back home" Sakura said thoughtfully.

As if on cue, at least five stomachs rumbled audibly. There was a silent moment, and then peals of laughter rang off the stone ceiling of the tunnel. "I think we can agree with that." Nadeshiko grinned into the shadows.

"Man…I wonder what's for dinner?" Ryudo mused quietly.

"Can we please not talk about it?" Reika begged, "you'll only make things worse!"

"Sorry" her brother replied sheepishly.

"Ooh, Shin, Sali, do you guys remember last New Year when your dad and Shu and Nadeshiko's mom spent all day in the kitchen with all those helpers and everybody in the palace spent the next three days eating?" Touma groaned.

"**ENOUGH!**" Reika snapped, feeling her stomach protest at knowing there would be no such sustenance that night.

She was unable to clamp her hands over her ears, because that would mean releasing her grip on the others; getting lost was not something she wanted to do. From up at the head of the string of teens, Seiji shook his head and attempted to ignore the bantering from behind him. He thought he saw something up ahead, but it could just be a trick of the darkness. Thoughtfully narrowing ice-blue eyes, Halo attempted to peer though the pitch black. Was it his imagination or was there a… "Light!" Seiji yelped, "I see a light!"

"Whaa?" the arguing cut off sharply, and blonde teen was aware of nine bodies crowding close behind him, searching for a glimpse of the promised glow.

"I don't see…" Shin began to say, but then stopped, and took a closer look, "Seiji I think you're right!"

Up ahead, impossibly far away it seemed, was a sphere of light. From this distance it seemed a mere pinprick of illumination, even tinier than the stars at night.

"I take it we head that way?" Leeanna said dryly.

"I don't think we have any other choice." Touma frowned at his sister, "As far as I've been able to tell, there aren't any branch offs of this main tunnel, I've been dragging by free hand along the wall as we went, so I can guarantee you there's nothing of the right hand wall anyway"

"I've been doing the same with the left." Seiji nodded, "I think the path curves a little, but this is the only way."

"I still think it's a trap." Shu rumbled discontentedly.

"Probably." Reika sighed, "But we've already decided we don't have any choice."

"Guys…do you…hear something?" Shin asked, tightening his grip on Reika's hand.

"I think you've been in the dark too long Shinnie" Sali scoffed at her brother.

"No…he's right!" Shu said sharply, "just listen!"

The echoing sound of pounding footsteps drifted down the tunnel to their ears. With the way the noise bounced around, it was impossible to tell how many sets of feet were heading their way. "Whatever happens don't let go of each other." Seiji hissed. The thundering stopped just as suddenly as it had begun, leaving ten very anxious warriors wondering what had just happened. An earsplitting roar clove through the darkness, and something sprang through the air. Sali gasped aloud as she felt something large fly directly by her face, on past her, and right into… Reika shrieked in shock as something huge and heavy bore her to the ground, ripping her from the grasp of her friends. She threw her arms up immediately, one hand going to shield her face, the other flung out to grapple with the creature. **"ARMOR OF WILDFIRE, DAO JIN!"** Ryudo shouted, summoning his armor the moment he heard his sister's cry. The black haired warrior drew out his swords, never minding the fact that he couldn't see the target. "Rei!" Shin shouted, groping around in the darkness for her. To his surprise (and probably everyone else's as well) a muffled giggle sounded back through the shadows. "I…its okay guys!" Stars laughed, "you can…hehehe…armor down now Ryudo."

"What's going on!" Nadeshiko demanded, "what was that!"

"White Blaze." Reika grappled for a moment with the overgrown tabby that had knocked her over in his exuberance.

The tiger licked her face energetically, emitting a purr that sounded more like a growl. "Wait!" Sakura grinned suddenly, "If he's here, then Ryo and the others must be nearby, probably in the tunnels as well!"

"Yeah, that means Celena survived the poison too!" Touma added.

"I hope." Reika murmured, her words lost as White Blaze butted his head into her chest and purred louder.

She rubbed behind where she assumed his ears to be, at the same time attempting to struggle out form under his bulk, "Can you take us to the others Blaze, do you know where they are?" The weight pressing down on her body vanished as the tiger moved off the girl and past Sali, Ryudo, and Sakura up to where Seiji stood at the front of the line of Ronins. Halo jumped in surprise as the end of White Blaze's tail flicked over his face. Slightly mystified, the blonde warrior grasped the black and white tip carefully in his sub-armored hand. "I think he's going to show us the way" he said back over his shoulder to the others. Reika had gotten back to her feet and groped carefully around in the darkness until she found Shin and Sali again. White Blaze tugged against the grip on his tail and rumbled. "I think he's getting a little impatient" Seiji hinted.

"Well by all means, let's not keep the tiger waiting." Touma snorted, as the group shuffled carefully forward.

**SSSSSSSSS**

More than a few heels were trod on along the way, as they headed towards the distant will of the wisp glow that was an impossible distance away. "Hey! Look! There's a light up ahead!" Cye's voice rang through the corridor, snapping his companions from their semi-asleep state. When there had been no immediate attacks from any unseen enemy, the Ronins had more or less let their guard down. They were bone tired, not to mention sore, from being blasted with various magic, dropped down long falls, and fried by odd electric webbing. Each young man and woman had just headed in the general direction down the tunnel had pointed them in, one arm outstretched to keep from hitting any walls. When Sage had announced that the Sword of Halo was unable to provide any illumination, they were left alone in the dark with their own thoughts. No one seemed to be in the mood for idle conversation. "What, are you sure about that!" Kento rubbed at his eyes and looked up ahead.

"I'd be willing to bet just about anything that's where White Blaze took off to." Rowen concluded.

A few minutes before (how long exactly, they didn't know, since time was impossible to determine in this place) the tiger had begun to make rumbling noises, jolting a half-asleep Celena back to wakefulness. Something had prompted her to dismount, and she slid off the animal's back to stand on shaking knees. White Blaze had shot off into the dark like an arrow loosed from a bow. The thunder of his pounding paws was the only sign of his departure. "He's making a habit out of that." Sage murmured, shifting his grip on Celena's shoulders. He and Mia were supporting the still weakened Alter between them. Considering the pitch-black, this had lead to treading on each other's feet several times. All discomforts were forgotten, however, at the flicker of hope the light gave them all. No one had enough energy left to run, so the best anyone could manage was a kind of quick shuffle. Even the added boost the Ronins received from their sub-armor wasn't enough to get them back up to par. Time dragged on intermittently, and lo-and-behold, the glow grew steadily nearer. And suddenly, they were right atop it. The floor a mere couple of feet ahead was actually visible. It seemed the light was constrained to the space under whatever the source was. They could dimly see each other though, which was a definite improvement. Ryo stuck his arm into the light, and when nothing odd happened to him, he stepped fully into it. Shielding his eyes with his forearm, he turned his gaze upward to try and get a glimpse of the origin. A long, slow whistle emanated from his pursed lips, and he beckoned the others forward with his free hand, "Take a look at that, will ya?" One by one, being careful not to look directly at the almost unbearably bright light, the seven teens looked upward to see what had astounded Ryo so. High above them, hanging seemingly unsuspended in midair, was a sphere of white light so intense that it was like staring at the heart of the sun. Even Sage had to look away as his eyes began to water over. "What is that?" Kento asked, knuckling at his eyelids.

"I'd say a bulb with mega wattage." Celena replied, "Except I get the feeling that's not the answer we're looking for."

"It's giving off a powerful aura though" Ryo mused, "if I didn't know better, I'd say it's made of pure energy."

Rowen shrugged, "That's entirely possible, we don't know what kind of technology of magic is available in this period of time, we're still very much in the dark about the culture of this place."

"Be that as it may," Cye pointed out, "I'd really rather not think about the notion that the Dynasty had that much energy to throw away on lights."

"Kind of daunting though, isn't it?" Rowen smirked humorlessly.

Sage paced the outer boundaries of the ring of light, leaving Mia supporting Celena. On two sides of them were the stone walls that had enclosed them during their entire journey through the tunnels. Just behind them was the way they'd come, and straight ahead the path faded off into more blackness. Obviously the only choice was to continue forward, but it wasn't an option Sage relished much. He froze in midstride, and cocked his head to one side, listening for something. Gradually, the others became aware of the blonde's listening stance, and strained their own ears as well, wondering what had caught his attention. "Footsteps." Cye breathed in a hushed tone, "A lot of them." It was difficult to determine how many pairs of feet were making the noise, given the way the sound bounced off the walls, and absolutely impossible to tell whether or not those same feet belonged to anything even remotely human. Rowen sighed wearily, and raised his arms over his head to summon forth Strata. Mia turned and leaned Celena against the wall, so that the stone was to the still weak leader's back. Celena growled inwardly at her inability to help, sliding down the wall to sit on the stone floor ground. Brief flashed of multi-colored light filled the tunnel as her friends summoned their armors. Was it her imagination, or had she heard a faint cry of surprise from farther down, lost in the darkness? Someone, or something, had seen the sudden flare and had been alarmed by it. Oddly enough, she felt a strange pull, as though something familiar was drawing steadily closer…

"Guys hold on a second!" she cried, drawing their attention, "don't fire yet!"

"Celena?" Kento frowned, "what's wrong?"

"Just don't!" she insisted, "Trust me! There's…something not quite right."

"If we get fried over this…" Rowen said slowly.

"Just trust me." Celena pleaded again.

Ryo, Rowen, Sage, Cye, Kento, and Mia studied her face intently for a moment, before nodding shortly. "Alright, we'll try it your way" Sage agreed, "but if something goes wrong…" He left the sentence dangling in the air.

"Then we probably won't be around to yell at her about it." Ryo finished with a ghost of a smile.

"Oh that's very optimistic" Mia snorted.

They all fell silent as the footsteps increased in volume. A faint sound, like a mere whisper of a spoken word, drifted over the still air. Was it the product of overactive imaginations and tension, or was there truly a faint note of anxiety in that tone? Then a disembodied arm pushed through the darkness beyond the circle, as if pulling back a heavy velvet curtain. "**GAH!**" all seven Ronins jumped in shock, weapons appearing in their hands as if by magic. The arm pushed farther past the boundary between light and dark, and was quickly followed by a shoulder, upper torso, and a very familiar face. "Well," Seiji said quite calmly, amusement flickering in his eyes, "you're rather jumpy." There was a moment of stunned silence before laughter erupted from back in the shadows, and nine more figures appeared, stepping into the bright glow thrown off by the energy sphere. Just behind Seiji came Leeanna, followed by Ryudo, then Sali, who pulled Reika through, then came Shin, then Shu, then Nadeshiko, who tugged Sakura through drawing her into visibility, then Touma materialized behind her, and finally White Blaze appeared out of nowhere, padding over to sit next to Celena with an air of smug triumph. "I told you so." Celena grinned weakly, breaking the nearly palpable atmosphere of shock.

"Hey Celena" Touma smirked, "you don't look half bad…for a dead girl."

"I could say the same about you." Alter chuckled, giving Touma a close look.

Aside from being slightly pale, and obviously short of breath, he actually appeared to be in good health. Rowen was also checking to make sure Touma was alright. Though he also noticed that both Touma and Sakura were holding hands. Rowen looked over at Sage, who apparently had noticed it too. Both Sakura and Touma seemed to notice them looking, since their hands suddenly separated. Sakura turning her head with a slight blush on her face, Touma just put his hands behind his back and suddenly became very interested in the wall.Suddenly the group erupted in a burst of conversation. Explanations of what had happened since their separation were hastily thrown back and forth, becoming garbled and utterly confused in the telling, until it became almost impossible to distinguish what had actually happened. "**TIME OUT!**" Rowen cried above the clamor, making a little 'T' sign with his hands, "whoa, let's try this one at a time here." Relative quiet fell again, though there were a few embarrassed coughs and sheepish grins. "That's right, now, Seiji what the heck happened to you guys?" The blonde youth began at the beginning, explaining how they'd come to only to struggle to find each other, and then encounter Taru. His recount of the close call with the spike-filled crevice drew a few raised eyebrows and a long, low whistle from Kento. "The odd thing is, that she just left when she could have finished us off." Halo frowned, utterly puzzled, "if Taru had stayed around just a few more moments, she could have seen our demise."

"Not that we're complaining or anything." Reika said, her lips twisting into a wry smile.

"Oh of course not." Seiji agreed, "but you have to admit it's strange."

"I think the same thing could be said about our encounter with Elian." Cye mused.

"Who?" the future generation of Ronins stared at them, eyes blank.

"Well Taru didn't come after us, the way she seems to have told you she would have." Cye explained, "She sent an underling instead."

"A very powerful underling" Ryo grumbled.

Rowen rubbed his chest at the memory of the fireball. They went on explaining their battle with Taru's henchman. The complete telling eventually included narratives from Ryo, Rowen, Sage, and Kento, since each warrior had separate views of the battle, having entered it at different times. Mia, Cye, and Celena had nothing to add; Celena frowned pensively and rubbed behind White Blazes ears, while Mia and Cye stood next to her. Leeanna growled and kicked at the ground, "Well, that's just what we need, another powerful maniac."

"He said he was just feeling us out, testing us." Sage said, "He probably could have killed at least one of us in the mist, before any of the others could have helped."

"And he didn't have to give us the antidote to the poison either." Rowen reminded them, "I wonder what game this guy's playing?"

Shin shook his head mutely, "This isn't making any sense…it's almost as it they want us alive…"

"You don't think they want to get the Armors, do you?" Shu inquired.

Rowen snorted, "I don't think so, from what we've seen and heard, Taru had nothing but contempt for Talpa, Arago, or any other enemy that we've faced, I'd say she'd rather die that follow in their footsteps."

"I don't think she could handle the combined power of the **SEVENTEEN** Ronin armors that we have now" Celena put in, joining in the brain-storm session, "she seems to be immensely powerful…but I think that kind of energy would be too hard to control."

Seiji nodded, "I honestly think she'd just rather get us out of the way, she didn't seem to need the armor at all."

"Unless…" Sali trailed off, lost in thought.

Sixteen pairs of human eyes and one set of inhuman ones, settled on her for a moment. The expression on her face changed from a preoccupied frown to one of pure horror, "Oh…oh **NO!**"

"What?" Sakura demanded, "what is it?"

Sali slammed the heel of her hand against her forehead, obviously angry at herself, "From all the stories we've heard from our fathers and mothers, we can at least figure that having only eleven of the armors is worthless if one doesn't have all fifteen right, so we have almost two sets of identical ones right here, but as for the other five…"

Ryo's eyes flow wide open, "Oh god…we left the Warlords, and Kayura back with the others."

"Our older selves, Anubis, Katrina, Caran, Ralon, and …oh no…" Rowen clenched his hands into helpless fists.

"The littles" Shin finished, blinking back a sudden hot rush of tears, his voice dropped to a mere whisper, "Sonya…"

"It's pure speculation right now" Cye said gently, "we don't know that those were Taru's intentions."

"But you know we have to be ready for the worst possible scenario!" Kento insisted.

"We can't afford to let it distract us either." Touma said quietly, his sister nodded.

All gazes swung to the two warriors. They were studying the ground intently, unruly bangs shadowing their eyes. "How can you two say that!" Reika demanded, "Tannin and Kina are back there, their lives could be in danger while we're stuck down here!"

"We know that!" Leeanna snapped irritably, her head jerking up as she glared coldly at her friend, "but we're also smart enough to know that panicking about what may or may not happen will get us nowhere, right now out most pressing matter is finding a way out of these tunnels, them we can come us with a way to deal with Taru and anything she can throw at us!"

For a moment, Reika studied her friend, and was surprised to find something totally unknown and different in her sapphire eyes. Leeanna had always been the wildcard, more happy-go-lucky, take-it-as-it-comes type than the rest of them. She'd have expected sarcastic retorts out of her, not chill logic. A shudder ran up her spine as she realized that she had faced down her brother's almost certain death, and it had changed her. In many ways she was stronger now. "Leeanna's right." Shin's soft voice broke the awkward quiet, "we don't have time to worry."

He cleared his throat, effectively banishing the remnants of the tension. He turned to the older Ronins questioningly, "I don't suppose there was a way out where you were?"

Sage shot his a puzzled look, "No, this tunnel was the only entrance we saw, we assumed that the way out was down this way."

"Noooo" Nadeshiko drawled, shaking her head, "we were hoping that the escape was from your side!"

"Darn" Celena growled, "we're stuck in a loop!"

"There has to be an exit somewhere" Mia insisted, "why would Taru let us live, just to chase us around in a maze?"

"It's not a maze." Ryudo corrected her, "They're straight tunnels, they just curve a little, there aren't any branch offs."

"It still doesn't make sense" Mia folded her arms over her chest and frowned. "You're right it doesn't" Seiji sighed. Celena groaned and leaned her forehead against White Blaze's broad, furred shoulder. The tiger shifted almost imperceptibly, his head tilting back to stare intently at the ceiling. An inaudible growl rumbled around inside his chest. Celena heard more that felt the noise, and pulled away from her striped friend, following the cat's gaze upwards. "**HOLY!**" she shouted, staggering to her feet with her back against the wall.

"Huh?"

Cut off from their debate, all her friends turned and stared at her, noticing that she was gazing upwards. One by one, each Ronin looked up, and gasped in surprise. The large glowing sphere was slowly lowering towards the ground, its light spilling even further down both sides of the tunnel. Up close, it was perhaps about the size of a large beach ball, but its glow was too intensely bright to look upon. The group of teens threw up their arms to shield their eyes as it reached head level. Very lightly, the sphere touched down upon the stone floor, its rays of light now shot upward, creating interesting shadow effects on their faces, as if someone had placed a flashlight under their chins. The light flickered, making the nearby shadows dance and weave, giving them body, life, and soul. It almost seemed to spin entities out of the darkness; creatures that bordered just on this side of reality… And then the glow dimmed down to a light bearable for human eyes. Cautiously, one by one, the warriors lowered their arms, and exchanged wary glances. Kento shrugged fatalistically, and stepped forward. He nudged the ball with his foot, but it didn't budge. Instead it slowly sank right through the stone, drawing no few wide-eyed stares from the onlookers. The floor started to glow, like a candle placed behind smoky quartz. Cye reached out an arm to pull his friend back to safety…and then the whole illuminated portion of the floor exploded in a flurry of stone shards. A multitude of shouts went up from the group as they instinctively fell back, covering their faces yet again. Sakura felt herself pulled against someone's chest, and she kept her eyes squeezed shut as a tiny stone shard whizzed over her head. A few moments later, it was over, leaving only a ringing in her ears and an echo bouncing off down the tunnel on either side of them. She looked up and saw Shu breathing heavily, eyes wide as he stared at the hole in the ground where the glow had been. He seemed to realize that she was watching him, and released his hold on her shoulders, a concerned look in his eyes. Sakura forced a shaky smile and patted her cousin's cheek reassuringly. All checked exposed skin of their faces for any wounds. Surprisingly, there had been none. "Everyone alright?" Celena asked, her eyes flickering from one person to another, waiting until the object in her gaze nodded in assent before moving onto the next. Everyone looked slightly shaken, but unhurt. Seiji sneezed once the dust settled, and a nervous laugh rang on the air for a moment. "Helllooo…" Rowen's voice came form over by the hole in the ground. He'd walked over to it and was now intently examining the opening, "well this is interesting." The others crowded around him, and did a double take. Stretching down an unknown distance was a staircase, spiraling out of view into yet more shadows. "Well it that isn't an open invitation, then I don't know what is!" Shin exclaimed, "I think we ought to accept it, it would be rude not to."

"Agreed." Sage nodded, grinned infectiously.

Before anyone could make a move to descend, White Blaze slipped past their legs and padded silently down the stone steps. "That cat is earning his kitty chow." Kento muttered, drawing a nervous giggle from Sali, who was standing next to him. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt a hand tighten around hers, and turned to see Celena's eyes. She smiled at her, and she was slightly surprised to find herself smiling back. "Need some help down the stairs old girl?" she teased as Rowen and Shu both disappeared down the steeply sloping hole. "That's not funny Sae." she muttered, embarrassed beyond belief at her own weakness.

"I know, I'm sorry." she replied quietly, taking the steps one at a time, testing them for any slippery patches of moss or dampness.

Behind them, Shin and Cye's voices sounded oddly flat in the silence. The echoes were even weirder down here. Strung out in a long line, the seventeen warriors and one cat, descended into the shaft, squishing down their fear and anxiety with the knowledge that their defenseless loved ones could be in danger, and that the world hinged upon the progress they made.

**TBC...**

**Author's Note:** R and R please. Thank you. Ja ne.


	10. Chapter 9

**Rating: **T

**Pairings:** Future selves: RyoxMia, CyexCelena, KentoxKahlan, RowenxLee, and SagexSaphrita. Past Selves: CyexCelena and RyoxMia. Kids: Touma+Sakura+Touma.

**Disclaimer:** I only own the RW DVDs and my OCs, my friends own their OCs

**SSSSSSSSS **scene change

_italics_ telepathy

"yap yap yap" talk

'yap yap yap' thoughts

**Past**

**Meets**

**Future**

**Chapter 9**

"Is there no end to this thing!" Shu wondered aloud, looking around himself at the spiraling stair. Moisture condensed on the smooth stone above their heads, occasionally dripping down the back of someone's neck. The only illumination came from softly glowing fungi that lined the walls of the stairwell. It may have just been his imagination, but Shu could swear the light showed that the walls were brickwork. "I don't think we've been here all that long, actually." Cye replied thoughtfully.

"What makes you so sure?" Touma asked from behind.

"I've been counting the stairs." Cye admitted, "Partly form boredom."

"And how many have we gone down so far?" Sali inquired, her tone indicating vast amusement.

"Somewhere in the 800's." Torrent chuckled, "You made me lose count."

"Hmm…" Rowen mused, "if we go down the stairs at a rate of one or two every second, then that means we've been down here…"

"Somewhere around fifteen minutes." Sage concluded, "Which is more than long enough to be going down into the ground."

"You don't like caves much, do you Sage?" Shin teased him.

"No, I just…whoa!"

Halo had craned his head around to regard the younger Ronin, put a foot wrong, and stumbled forward. Reacting instinctively, Rowen and Shu reached out and caught the blonde before he fell and cracked his head on the stone stairs. For a moment, everyone froze, commanding their hearts to start beating again after the fright of such a near miss. "Clumsy." Kento grinned weakly, attempting humor, "You're the last person I would have expected to trip."

"I didn't." Sage said angrily, "I just slipped on something."

"Slipped on something?" Sali and Celena exchanged puzzled glances.

"There is water dripping from the ceiling." Cye reminded him, "It just might have been continuously collecting in that particular spot."

"Probably." Sage agreed.

From somewhere ahead, the sound of White Blaze roaring brought their attention back to matters at hand. The noise didn't seem all that far away, though the tiger had disappeared not long after they'd entered the stairway. "I wonder what's wrong with him?" Sakura asked.

"Only one way to find out I suppose," Leeanna yawned, stretching her arms over her head, "and when we do get out of these stairs, I vote we stop for the night, hm?"

"That's the best idea I've heard since we started this crazy mission." Reika snorted, moving downward once more, "I wouldn't say no to something to eat, either."

"I thought we already agreed not to mention food." Shin chuckled.

"No, I made you promise not to." she retorted.

The minutes stretched on, agonizingly long. The clicking noises of their sub-armored feet hitting the stone filled their ears, and the other sixteen found themselves following Cye's lead and counting the steps. In the dim light, all that was possible to make out was the vague outline of the person before you, or their profile as they turned to speak back over their shoulder. Several times Rowen caught himself stifling a yawn, and heard others doing the same. It was hard to believe that everything that had happened to them thus far had occurred in the span of a single day. No wonder they were all dead on their feet. He nearly tripped over his own two feet when, reaching out a foot for the next stair, he encountered a flat space. A crooked grin pulled slowly at his lips as Shu and Sage both stepped out beside him. Turning, Rowen cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted up the dark chute of the stairwell. "We've hit bottom!"

"What, are we in a mine shaft or something?" Celena's sardonic voice called back down to him.

One by one, the rest of the group reached the ground floor and took a gook look at their surroundings. They seemed to be standing on a flat, elevated platform about fifty feet or so across. It was bordered on three sides by walls, and the fourth dropped off into a wide crack to their left. Across the cleft was yet another wall. "Any ideas where we could be?" Nadeshiko peered around herself, confused.

"Or where we go from here?" Reika added.

Since the questions were largely rhetorical, nobody took the time to put together an answer. Instead, they explored the platform, searching for any escape. "Odd." Seiji remarked after a moment, crouching down to stare intently at the ground.

"What is it?" Touma stepped up behind his friend, following his gaze.

"The ground." the blonde teen replied, "It's not stone, it's…"

"Tile!" Touma finished the sentence for him, now thoroughly puzzled as well.

Automatically, everyone looked down at the floor beneath their feet, realizing what they'd missed. The glazed ceramic tile was chipped, scratched, and discolored by years of wear and use. Definitely way out of place in a Dynasty dungeon. "Now, I'm confused." Rowen folded his arms over his chest and leaned back against the wall, lost in his thoughts.

"Welcome to the club." Kento muttered, pacing over to peer over the edge of the drop off.

It seemed to fall about six feet or so; he could make out the bottom but none of the details. The crevice ran lengthwise across the room, disappearing into wide holes on either side. Shin stood beside Kento, regarding the fissure with the air of the terminally lost. "It doesn't seem like it's that far down of a drop." he said, "Why don't we go down and take a look, maybe the exit is through one of those openings?"

Hardrock shrugged, "Hey it's something to do, who knows, we just might find a way out."

"Go on down." Ryo's voice came from behind the both of them, "I'll keep an eye open and give you a yell if anything happens."

Quietly, the two young men dropped themselves over the edge, landing knees slightly bent on a layer of broken stones about the size of on egg each. Kento automatically made his way over to the right hand gap, peering into the darkness that stretched away for eternity. Making a sound of disgust, he turned away from it. It was possible that the only way out of this chamber was through one of these two holes, but which one? And why did it seem to him that those in the Dynasty had a fascination for all things dark and dreary? "Hey Kento!" Shin was on his knees in the rubble, staring at something, "what do you think these could be for?" He pointed at two long bars of steel running parallel to the sides of the crevice. Slats of thick, heavy wood were laid between the bars, bisecting them.

"You know," Celena said from the edge of the platform, "if I didn't know better, I'd say you were standing in a…"

A sudden shrill shrieking noise cut her off, and two bright spots of light sprang to life in the tunnel to the left, flooding down the cranny and blinding both Shin and Kento as they turned to stare at it in shock. A rushing sound, accompanied by the whine of metal on metal filled their ears, and everyone else in the room gazed on in horror. "**SUBWAY!**"

Shaking off his stunned surprise, Kento raced over to Shin and yanked him to the side of the ditch. The shorter boy was still bewildered by the appearance of the train. Growling softly to himself, Hardrock cuffed him lightly upside the head, effectively getting his attention. He cupped his hands into stirrups and motioned for Shin to step up. Wasting no time, the other youth set his foot into the hold and reached upwards to grasp the side of the crevice. Celena's hands grabbed at his shoulders and hauled him roughly over the edge. Adrenaline surged through his veins, pumped by his furiously pounding heart. Shin spun around on his knees and reached back down to grip Kento's wrist, wondering in the back of his mind how he was going to be able to pull the larger boy out of harm's way, especially with Celena so weak. The oncoming train roared down on them, the two headlights of the vehicle growing larger by the second; filling his eyes and making his head swim. The grip of the trapped boy's hand seemed to crush the bones in his forearm. Then someone was beside him, leaning over and grabbing Kento's other hand. In total synch, the two warriors heaved backwards, pulling Kento far enough out of the ditch so he could swing a leg over the edge and pull himself up. The train screamed past, missing Kento's foot by a few inches at the most. The stunned warriors watched as the windows flashed by, reflecting the wan light in a blur. Shin and Kento both stared, their blood running cold at the near miss. Shin turned to discover who the other rescuer hand been; he hadn't exactly hand time to notice in all the confusion. Two pairs of eyes met one colored emerald green, the other ocean, father and son gazed at each other for a moment. Cye managed a faint grin, panting with exertion. Shin echoed the expression before flopping down onto his back. "What the heck was that!" Shu demanded.

"What do you mean?" Rowen blinked in surprise, turning to stare at the bewildered young man.

In fact, all of the new Ronins had completely befuddled looks on their faces, "You've never seen a subway train before?"

Reika shook her head slowly, "No. Is that what it was?"

"Most of man's technology was destroyed in Armageddon." Touma reminded them.

"There's a lot of things you take for granted, that we never knew existed" Leeanna put in.

"That little detail slipped my mind" Rowen admitted, "a subway is public transportation; it's used to transport large numbers of people through underground tunnels that travel beneath the big cities."

"You can ride in that thing?" Seiji asked, his tone one of disbelief.

"It's hollow" Rowen felt a little odd to be explaining such a thing to them.

"And if it had hit you," Ryo said, his face utterly deadpan, "you wouldn't even have had time to realize that you were road kill."

Shin gulped audibly, visibly shaken from the encounter. Sali shot him a sidelong glance, noting how pale he seemed. Kento didn't look much better, though she decided that she owed him a great deal of thanks for his quick thinking, and even quicker acting. Shin was her only brother; the thought of him as 'road kill' sent chills up her spine. "What do we do now?" Cye asked after everyone had digested this latest occurrence, "if we try to leave through either of the tunnels, we could get mowed down by a train without warning." Silence fell as the all seventeen of them exchanged looks; 'Now what?' Was a very good question. Nobody could think of an answer. Shin cleared his throat, drawing their attention, "You said people rode around in that thing, right Rowen?". He waited for the archer to nod before continuing, "so what if we just…stopped one and got inside of it?"

Both of Rowen's eyebrows rose towards his hairline, "…You know, that's so simple it might just work!"

"Hold that thought!" Kento held up a hand as though halting something, "you're forgetting one little thing, how do you suggest we go about stopping one!"

Sage's lips curved into a wry smile, "I should think a great deal of electricity would do the trick."

Mia quirked an eyebrow at him, disbelief written on her face, "You think that would work?"

"I don't see why not." Sage shrugged.

"Then again, maybe it won't be necessary." he frowned slightly, "this whole thing seems as though it's been set up to head us in one direction; first that ball of light, then the stairs, and now this, unless I miss my guess, the train may very well stop on its own."

"Then why didn't it do that just now?" Nadeshiko challenged the theory.

"If you were Taru, would you just pass up a chance to wipe out two of us?" the blonde said logically, "it must have been too good of a shot for her to ignore."

"I wonder where she's trying to take us then?" Ryudo murmured quietly, his eyes distant, "why hasn't see just picked us all off by now, I can't understand it."

"She's probably just having some fun at our expense." Sakura drawled dryly.

"Seems like an awful lot of power just for an ego trip though." Seiji shook his head, "The only way to find out is to ask her and to do that, we'll have to wait."

"Oh joy." Rowen rolled his eyes, "More waiting."

"What are you complaining for!" Sali laughed, "we can rest here until the train comes, we'll hear it long before it shows up, but we can all get a little nap first."

Kento rapped his fist against the hart tile beneath him, "Right, sure, you sleep on this and you'll be feeling it for a week afterward."

"It's better than nothing!" Reika defended her friend, stepping away from the edge of the drop-off, "I'm certainly tired enough."

"You won't hear any complaints form me." Touma said, settling his back against the wall and folding his arms over his chest.

In a matter of moments, the Ronins had made themselves as comfortable as possible on the hard floor. Despite the cold tile, none of them managed to keep their eyes open for more than a few moments after lying down.

**SSSSSSSSS**

Touma's eyes shot wide open as his stiffened against the wall, choking back a cry by the barest of margins. His chest heaved frantically as his lungs strove to pump air through his body, accommodating the panic he felt. He'd expected a few bad dreams about the harrowing experiences earlier that day…but nothing that would have him waking up in a cold sweat. Drawing his knees up to his chest, Touma folded his arms atop them and buried his face there. Gradually, he stopped shaking, and his heart ceased its attempts to slam right out of his chest. Fragments of the dream that had frightened him so came drifting back. It had felt a great deal like dying; with the darkness closing in around the edges of his sight, leaching the colors form any and everything; the muffled quality of the faint noises around him. Lethargy spread through his limbs and his breathing filled his ears, becoming all he could hear and feel. Then the screaming had started. The voices were vague at first, and his mind had to struggle to put his finger on whom they belonged to. Slowly they became louder and clearer and he heard the sounds of battle, followed by the sharp scream of his mother crying out her sure-kill… Someone was sobbing. It sounded horribly like Kina. The shrill screaming clawed at his ears and a splash of vivid crimson spread across his vision before someone's body hit the ground with a meaty thud… Then he'd woken up. It took Touma a moment to realize that he was shaking violently all over again. "Tou?" the blue haired archer froze at the sound of his name, wincing to himself at the thought that one of the others had seen him so broken up over nothing more than a dream. He slowly turned his head to meet a pair of violet eyes. Great, it just had to be Sakura. Touma was beginning to wish he'd fallen and impaled himself earlier. "Bad dream?" she asked, yawning and uncurling from the ball she'd been sleeping in.

"What makes you say that?" he countered, just a tad defensively.

The answer was obvious to them both, but he had to try and save face. He could barely make out the curve of a smile that touched her lips as she replied. "Because I had one to." Sakura twined one sapphire lock of hair around her index finger, whirling it in agitation. The tiny smile disappeared and was replaced by a frown.

"What about?" Touma ventured after the silence dragged on for several awkward seconds.

Her voice was very small and lost as she answered, "Today…back in that room, where we almost lost you." she shook her head and forced a rueful grin, "It's silly, but I kept dreaming that…that I lost my grip on you, and you kept falling." Her gaze fell to her hands, "and all I could do was watch while I let go to save myself and you died."

Disturbed at seeing her so upset, Touma leaned towards her and set his hand over hers. Sakura looked up at him questioningly, the shadow from her own nightmare still lingered in her eyes. "But you didn't." he said earnestly, "And I'm here, aren't I, you did everything you could, all of you, and it was enough, I owe you more that I can ever repay you, Kura."

Slowly, she shook her head, her bangs tumbling into her face, "No Touma, there are no debts between friends, you know that, the others would tell you the same." Sakura reached forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, grateful for the comfort, "Now what was your dream?"

Touma thought about that for a moment as he wrapped his arms around her waist, and kissed her gently, surprised by the fact that she didn't pull away this time, but kissed him back. "It's not important." he said as he broke the kiss, "Don't worry about it, just go back to sleep."

"But I want to know!" she protested, "you looked frightened by it Tou, very lost."

"I'm telling you it's nothing!" he insisted, wishing she would just let the matter go.

"I told you mine!"

"Just drop it, why is this so important to you!"

Sakura let go of him and sat back, an unreadable expression on her face, "Because you have the same look you had earlier, when you were falling." She laid herself back down, curling up her face hidden in her arms. Maybe he was imagining things, but Touma swore he heard her say, "And I don't want you to fall anymore."

**SSSSSSSSS**

It was the rumbling that woke them up. The chipped floor beneath them buzzed with the vibrations of something huge and heavy moving at high speed through the tunnel. All seventeen Ronins were shaken awake as the tremors rang through their bones, echoing inside their heads like a swarm of angry hornets and rattling their teeth together. The faint scent of gear oil and rust blew through the room on a source, less breeze. Shu clutched at his head and grimaced, "Ugh, feels like somebody whacked me upside the head with a frying pan…while I was wearing my helmet!" That awful roaring noise grew closer, and Shin and Kento went very pale at the memory of their previous close call.

"Sage you'd better get ready." Rowen reminded Halo, "We don't know for sure that it's going to stop for us, we just might have to fall back on the contingency plan."

The blonde nodded his understanding and summoned forth his armor, feeling somehow more stable as the familiar weight settled down around him. A similar rush of power surged through the station, accompanied by a brilliant flash of light. All eyes turned on Seiji, who shrugged emerald encased shoulders indifferently. "I've had a great deal of experience working with the element of lightning and associated electricity; I think with the added assistance of the armor, I could be of help." Seiji explained, though it was clear from his tone that he would be joining in the effort whether or not Sage agreed.

But there was no objection in Sage's direct gaze, "You have to learn some time." he reminded the less experience swordsman, "And it might as well be with someone who can warn you of any mistakes you might be making." he chuckled softly, "You kids have it easy, we had to learn the hard way."

"Kids!" Touma, Leeanna, Shu, and Nadeshiko sputtered indignantly.

Shin just smiled, "Could it be you're developing paternal feelings towards us?"

The past Ronins blinked at him in something like shock. Shin had his arms crossed over his chest, the expression on his face, some obscure mix of triumph and expectation. Ryo opened his mouth to reply, very pointedly not looking in Ryudo and Reika's direction. A loud whistle screeched out of the blackness and everyone's attention was gratefully redirected. "You two had better get moving." he said instead, "Sounds to me as if we're almost out of time."

"What were you planning on doing?" Mia asked Sage, "How're you going to fry that sucker?"

Sage just smirked and dropped down into the trench, which the train would come careening down shortly. Seiji frowned in confusion, but followed without hesitation. "What's the bright idea?" Leeanna quirked an eyebrow as she leaned over to observe them both.

"I was planning on using this to transmit a large amount of energy into the oncoming car." Sage explained, tapping the metal rail between his feet with the tip of his sword. His lips twitched as he fought not to laugh at the various reactions to the reckless-seeming plan.

"What if it doesn't work!" Shu blanched. Seiji stared more than a little wide-eyed at the elder bearer of Halo.

"Then our reflexes had better be as good as I think they are." Sage said dryly.

"You don't exactly inspire confidence, you know" Shu muttered sullenly, "Seiji, if it even looks like it won't work, I'm hauling you butt out of there."

"I appreciate the offer Shu." Came the slightly echoed response as Seiji echoed the other's posture by setting the sword so that the tip touched the long strip of metal, "But I believe this will work."

"I wish I was so sure." Reika murmured quietly, worrying, her lower lip between her teeth as she fidgeted anxiously.

Cye set a comforting hand on her shoulder and smiled understandingly. "You'd better take a few steps back." he advised in his softly accented voice, "There's going to be a forceful wind when it comes by."

Twin spots of intense light appeared in the darkness of the tunnel. The rays of light slanted from the shadows and pooled on the rocks and rails, speeding along and leaving blinding flashed off the metal. Seiji gulped reflexively and gripped his sword-hilt until his fingers ached with the strain. Sage stared ahead, a grimly determined set to his jaw as a sudden rush of hot air blasted outward form the drift. "Now!" he snapped as the lights grew to encompass his vision. The Sword of Halo sparked to life with waves of green-gold energy. The dark station was suddenly flooded with illumination. All those on the platform squinted against the sudden flare. Purple and orange spots dance behind their eyelids for a moment, before they were blinded once more by a twin burst as two voices rose in unison. **"THUNDER BOLT CUT!"** The brilliant emerald and aureate power raced crazily down the rails as both Sage and Seiji gritted their teeth with the effort of controlling their sure-kills in such an unusual manner. There wasn't a soul in the room whose breath did not catch in his or her throat as the energy impacted with the oncoming subway car. It crackled up the cab, sparking along the control panels inside the emerging out the roof to envelope the whole train in a faint shroud of shimmering hazy gold. For some distance behind, bright lights continued to whiz down the rails into the darkness of the tunnel. With a tortured screeching of metal-on-metal, the wheels of the car slowly creaked to a halt, stopping the car a good five feet away form the two warriors standing in its path of travel. A great sigh of relief rose from the platform as everyone released the breaths they hadn't been aware of holding. Reika pressed a hand to her chest as her shoulders sagged in relief. "You know, for a moment there…it was almost difficult to tell the two of them apart." Shin remarked thoughtfully at her side. Kento nodded in agreement, with the helmets on, it was impossible to see the differences in the way both of them wore their hair, and so the familial resemblance stood out all the stronger. Nadeshiko grinned wildly and gave Seiji a quick thumbs-up. The other teen grinned back, an expression of breathless incredulity on his face, as if he couldn't quite believe they'd managed to pull it off. "Get out of there you two, and I'll go check whether or not you fried the switchboard." Rowen called, already heading towards the still slightly sizzling subway car.

"We'll be right th…" Sage began to walk back towards the edge of the drop-off, but cut off his own words with a groan as his legs buckled under him.

Within an instant or two, Seiji was at his side, looping one of the other boy's arms over his shoulders and looking as him anxiously, "Are you alright, what happened?"

"I'm not sure." Sage replied, shaking his head slightly.

"Well you did you a lot of your power trying to heal Celena back in the tunnel." Cye frowned, "You just used a little bit more than you intended to."

Sage nodded, "You're probably right."

"Let's get you out of there." Ryo beckoned White Blaze forward, gesturing towards the two green-clad warriors in the trench, "Go fetch."

"Fetch?" Seiji arched an eyebrow at the dark-haired boy.

Ryo snickered, "Poor choice of words, maybe?"

"I think so."

The large snow-white cat thudded down onto the packed stones with barely a whisper of sound. He padded over to Seiji, waiting patiently for the younger Halo to help Sage onto the tiger's back. Sage managed to get his arms around Blaze's neck before the mystical feline leaped easily back onto the platform. Seiji was right behind them, scrambling out with a little help from Kento and Touma. "All aboard, I guess." Touma chuckled, eyeing the strange metal transport doubtfully.

"It's not all that bad." Cye assured him, "Come on, let's see how Rowen's doing."

In single file, the Ronins stepped carefully over the gap between the edge and the stairs leading into the car. Inside, fluorescent lights ran the length of the seating area, reflecting dully off the corrugated iron floor. It was almost eerie how like a real subway car this was…right down to the discarded snack-wrappers, and the used chewing gum stamped into the floor and stuck to the ceiling and under the seats. "That's public transportation for you." Kento made a face and plopped down in one of the plastic upholstered chairs.

"I'm going to check in on Rowen." Touma said as he headed down the aisle to the driver's end.

His sub-armored feet made weird clacking noised as he walked, and more than once gum stuck to the bottom on his 'shoes'. Touma made a face and stuck his head into the small room at the very end of the car. Before him, Rowen was closely examining the control panel. "How goes it?"

Rowen jumped in surprise, but shrugged as he noticed it was only Touma, "Well, our lightning bugs didn't melt or short-circuit anything as far as I can tell, surprisingly."

"Can you get it moving?"

"Can I get it moving? Oh ye of little faith." Rowen scoffed, throwing a switch.

With a sudden lurch, the train began moving once more, starting off at a relatively slow speed, and continuing to gain velocity as it shot into the opposite tunnel. Touma reeled back against the wall, hands flailing for any kind of hold. "You could have given me a little warning!"

Rowen smirked and held the door open, "Let's go, I get the feeling that we'll stop when Taru's good and ready to let us off, I'm not needed here."

Touma scowled, "I hate the idea of being under that brat's manipulation."

"There's nothing we can do about it at the moment." Rowen shrugged, "Don't sweat it; we're just cooperating with her for now because it gets us where we need to be."

"Which is?"

"Wherever she's holed herself up."

The two azure haired Ronins rejoined the others. Talk was muted as the subway train sped along at an undeterminable speed. Staring out the windows revealed only the faint image of the wall whizzing by at mach-5. They either sprawled in the uncomfortable plastic chairs or stood leaning against the poles and using the little hand-stirrups mounted in the ceiling. Ryudo gazed impassively out the window, a tiny frown line appearing between his brows as he struggled with his own inner thoughts. Ryo watched unobtrusively as Ryudo continued to rake his teeth over his lower lip as whatever issues he was tackling played havoc with his mind. It occurred to Ryo that Ryudo had seemed much less confident since the whole plan of going into the Dynasty territory had begun. Strangely enough, Ryo recognized the look on Ryudo's face, and the troubled light in his eyes. Hadn't he seen it in the mirror enough times before? Carefully making his way so as not to lose his balance on the rumbling floor, Ryo stood a little behind the young boy, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder carefully. "Something wrong?" Ryudo blinked once or twice, apparently not noticing his presence until that very moment. He half-turned his head to meet Ryo's eyes before turning back to staring out into the blurred blackness. For a second, Ryo wondered in he was going to say anything at all. "How can you stand it?" his voice was so low that Ryo almost had to strain to hear it.

"Stand what?" Ryo asked quietly.

"The price of command." Ryudo chuckled humorlessly, "I remember my father, mentioning it before, but I never understood what he was trying to get at."

"The price of command…?" Ryo echoed, obviously not understanding either.

"Like it or not, I'm the technical leader of this generation of warriors aren't I?"

He was hugging himself tightly now, his fingers digging almost painfully into his arms through the sub-armor, "I never wanted that, I'm not cut out for it, either Seiji or Touma always made most of the decisions, when we were younger, I was content to follow…but now I have to step up and take responsibility for the actions of the group, I thought my heart was going to give out on me, watching Seiji take that risk just now" Ryudo turned a tortured gaze onto the boy he so strongly resembled, "that's what I can't stand, letting the people I care about, the ones I'm supposed to be responsible for go into danger, especially when I'm just sitting by and watching, how can I continue to make decisions that might put all their lives on the line, if just a simple risk comes so close to breaking my nerve?"

Ryo stared in surprise, experiencing a sudden pang of deja-vu, only from a totally different perspective. He hadn't thought it was possible to see oneself so clearly in another. Hadn't those same questions tortured his own mind during the days of the war with Talpa? It had taken him ages to puzzle through to the answers by himself. "Ryudo" he said softly, squeezing the boy's shoulder a little tighter, "there isn't anything to be done to stop the others from taking risks, do you know why that is?"

At the wordless shake of the boy's head, Ryo continued, "It's because the deal works both ways, they fight to keep you safe, just as you with you could to keep them from harm, you may want to throw yourself between them and any oncoming danger at times, but you can't and you know it, we all have a role to play, and if we don't, we're not going to make it through this alive."

"I just feel as if I haven't been doing anything to help." Ryudo near-whispered.

His bangs fell over his face, throwing his eyes into shadow and hiding the way his eyes shone with tears unshed. He wasn't strong enough for this, and he knew it.

"Don't make me mention the risks your sister took just to bring us here." Ryo said mock warningly. He caught the boy's chin between his fingers and tilted his face up so that their eyes met, "The fact that you feel unworthy of the power that comes with command means you're less likely to be corrupted by it, or to abuse it."

Ryudo swiped at his eyes with the back of his hand and managed a watery smile, "I…suppose…"

"You just gotta learn to delegate." Ryo grinned, "Taking everything on your own shoulders is a great way to worry yourself into an early grave."

Ryudo made a sound suspiciously like a snigger, "You hypocrite."

"Made you laugh, didn't I?" the grin widened a smidgen.

With a slightly stronger smile, the younger Sanada nodded, "Thank you, you didn't have to help me."

"I think it's in the job description" Ryo coughed awkwardly, recalling Shin's words from earlier.

He'd never intended to get attached to either Ryudo or Reika, but… It seemed the Mouri line all shared the same inherent ability to read emotions that other people weren't even aware of feeling. "Err…" Ryudo sought for something to say, and was saved by a sudden squeal of the brakes. Everyone was either thrown against the seats before them or stumbled forwards from the force of the stop. Touma staggered forward a few steps, then turned to glare at Rowen. "I thought you said there was nothing wrong with it!"

"There isn't." Strata replied, rubbing his forehead, which he had banged against one of the metal poles, "this is our stop, I guess."

"Here?" Mia looked out the window in disbelief, "but I don't see any stairs or anything, are we supposed to continue down the tunnel on foot?"

"Try looking out the other side, Mia." Seiji chuckled.

He wiped at the window on the opposite side of the train and peered out, "There's a faint light, like on the last platform."

Creaking and groaning loudly, the door slowly opened on hinges nearly rusted shut. Kento, sitting nearest the entrance, leaned out to take a quick glance around. "You're right Seiji, there is another station here, but I don't see anything that looks at all like a trap."

"This is the end of the line for us then." Sage said finally as he slowly got up from where he was sitting.

Kento stepped out onto the tiled floor first, taking another step to the side to allow the others to file past him. "Where do you think we'll come up at?" Shu asked, eye the stairwell in the wall ahead, "Another maze?"

"I hope not." Nadeshiko murmured fervently.

White Blaze jumped out last, thumping down onto the platform to land in a wary crouch. He lifted his striped head and sniffed at the slightly musty air of the unused subway station. The fur along his spine slowly stood on end, and his muzzle drew back to reveal a truly frightening set of fangs. "Hmm?" Ryo turned to look back at his companion, "Blaze?"

"What's wrong with him?" Rowen asked, puzzled.

Seiji frowned, and wrinkle his nose, "Do you…smell something?"

Cye took a whiff, and coughed suddenly, "It's almost like something's burning!"

"Burning?" Ryudo blinked suddenly watering eyes; "you're right, it smells like smoke!" he rubbed at his eyes, and narrowed them blearily in the direction of the stairs, "Look!"

Billowing slowly down the stairs like insubstantial tentacles were thick trailers of smoke. The heavy, acrid cloud rolled onto the platform, winding around the legs and lower bodies of the surprised warriors. "Guh, what is it?" Shu's yelp was slightly muffled by the hand he'd clamped over his mouth and nose. Inhaling the fumes left an acidic taste and clouded up his lungs. The smoke seemed to surge upwards into several tall lumps. Choking as they were on the smog, this went unnoticed by the Ronins. A tiny whirlwind sprang to life in the center of the room, snatching away the noxious cloud and revealing several kneeling Dynasty Soldiers. "Guys, watch it!" Shin cried, ducking under a wild swing of a halberd. He crashed his fist into the chest plate of the advancing suit of armor, leaving a gaping hole. A sudden cloud of sickly red smoke burst from the gap, blowing right into Shin's face and causing him to stagger backwards, coughing violently. It stank of death, rot, and decay. "Shin!" Reika shrieked, dashing through the advancing soldiers to his side, "what happened, are you alright?"

The auburn haired teen gasped for air as he shook his head to clear the vile scent form his nose, "Did you see, the smoke, it's different!"

"You're right." Rowen said grimly, backing slowly away form another Dynasty minion, "These aren't the things we're used to fighting; we can't afford to inhale the stuff they leak!"

"How do you propose we kill them then!" Seiji snapped, "The only way we know is to either let their essence escape, or annihilate them with a sure-kill, and we can't use one of those in such a small space!"

"We can't take the time to armor up anyway!" Kento pointed out.

"Our only choice is to make a break for the stairs!" Ryo shouted over the din of clashing metal and heavy footsteps.

"But what if they follow us up the stairs!" Touma yelled back, desperately blocking every attack thrown his way, "we'd get in each other's way if we tried to fight there!"

"That's to our advantage; they can only come at us on ones and twos in such close quarters!" Ryo replied.

Kento grasped the forearm of one unfortunate soldier, and hurled him down into the trench. The crunch of the armor folding in on itself was barely heard over the clamor of battle. Ryudo turned to Touma, "You and Rowen should armor up and take the rear, that way; you can shoot down any soldiers that get too close."

"Now you're starting to think like a leader." Ryo approved.

Touma nodded and turned to Rowen, who was busy clubbing a soldier over the head and holding his breath to avoid breathing in the smoke. He nodded his head once in assent to Ryudo's suggestion, "Let's do it."

**SSSSSSSSS**

Nobody really wanted to think of the exodus to the stairwell as a retreat. Backing towards the stairway, behind the others, Touma and Rowen kept their bows and nocked arrows trained on the slowly advancing troops. "Why do you think these are so different?" Touma asked quietly, feeling blindly for the steps. He fired into the closely packed ranks of the soldiers. Thin streams of demonic red smoke drifted upwards as the animated suits of armor toppled over.

"They 'bleed' red…unlike the others, which let out a grayish color." Rowen muttered, following Touma's example, "The soldiers we fought during the wars that we had were created by the negative emotions of the people our enemies captured…"

Touma's eyes went wide, then narrowed as a cold rage swept over him, "And Taru's killing her captives, these were made with the death energy."

Rowen made a noise of disgust and coughed on what little smoke was wafted their way, "I say we make a break for it, the others have to be a good distance up the stairs by now."

Both Strata warriors hastily turned and ran at breakneck speed up the stairs. The angry roars of the soldiers remaining on the platform echoed up to them, almost drowned out by the sound of armored feet pounding on stone. There was light up ahead, shining around the silhouette of fifteen people and one feline. Bursting out into the wan light of a cloudy day, Rowen and Touma paused and keeled over, hands on their knees as they caught their breath. Touma turned his head to one side and caught site of Ryo, Shin, and Sage staring in shock around them. He frowned and turned to look at their surroundings…and froze. Skyscrapers of concrete and plexiglass rose up from the somewhat cracked pavement at their feet. Street signs were bent out of angle around the hollowed out shells of broken down cars. The windows of such vehicles were caved in and gaped back like so many jagged toothed mouths. Soaring over it all was the silhouette of the Alter Palace. "W-we're in…" Rowen stammered.

"Toyama." Ryo breathed quietly, "Our time period."

**TBC...**

**Author's Note:** Please R and R. Thank you. Ja ne.


	11. Chapter 10

**Rating: **T

**Pairings:** Future selves: RyoxMia, CyexCelena, KentoxKahlan, RowenxLee, and SagexSaphrita. Past Selves: CyexCelena and RyoxMia. Kids: Touma+Sakura+Touma.

**Disclaimer:** I only own the RW DVDs and my OCs, my friends own their OCs

**SSSSSSSSS **scene change

_italics_ telepathy

"yap yap yap" talk

'yap yap yap' thoughts

**Past**

**Meets**

**Future**

**Chapter 10**

"Oh my god." Celena gasped as she looked around her, "What happened here?"

"What's it look like?" Leeanna said sarcastically, "Apparently Taru attacked here either when we were in the tunnels, going down the stairs, or on that weird train."

"Leeanna you don't have to be so harsh about it." Sali said crossly.

"I wasn't being harsh," returned the girl, "I was just telling the truth."

"RRRiiiggghhhttt." Nadeshiko and Sakura drawled.

"I was honestly!" Leeanna cried.

"Stop arguing!" Reika shouted, "Fighting is going to get us nowhere!"

The four girls hung their heads in embarrassment.

"Okay, then what are we going to do then?" Shu asked.

"I'm thinking we should head toward the palace." Mia said, "It's probably where we'll find the others, and we may be able to get some answers about what happened."

"Right, what do you think Celena?" Kento turned to the red-haired girl.

"Mia's right, we should head there of all places, and hopefully the others are alright…I hope." she said sadly.

"Well then, let's go." Ryo said.

As they walked along the street, they could see that not only were the car's windows caved in but the windows of different stores, and small buildings. The road was also damaged in some places where it looked like something or someone had been fighting. "Geez, they sure did a job on this place." Ryudo said.

"Yeah, but the question is why did they attack the past in the first place?" Touma asked.

"No idea." Cye turned his head to regard the younger Strata, "But they must have had a good…**whoa!**"

"Cye!" Ryo shouted looking around, "you okay?"

"Ugh, I think so." was the reply.

"Where are you?" Sage said.

"Down here, I think I fell into an abandoned subway station."

The others looked down a saw a hole about ten feet wide by twenty feet tall, and it had some stairs leading down into it the rest were broken off.

"Now how did that get there?" Rowen asked, suddenly interested.

"No idea." Ryo answered.

"Can you climb out, Cye?" Kento called down.

"I think so but a majority of those stairs are broken off like someone took a sword and sliced them in half then broke them up into some stone slabs that are down here, which is what I landed on."

"Ouch, are you sure you're okay?" Celena winced at the fact of landing on hard slabs of concrete.

"Yes, I'm fine." Cye jumped back onto the street.

"Okay let's go." Leeanna resumed walking toward the palace.

Suddenly the ground began to tremble underneath them. "Oh no, what now?" Kento said in exasperation. As if in answer a huge black creature sprang up from the ground. It landed with a crash onto the street, splitting it in half. It had glowing red eyes, and its teeth were as sharp as swords and were stained with blood from recent kills. It slowly raised its long neck and its head reached up higher than that of the buildings. The creature snorted flames from its nose, and took off into the sky with a single beat of its wings, apparently not noticing the Ronins at all, as it flew south of them. "Oh boy, just what we need dragons." Ryo said.

"By any chance was that…" Mia started.

"No, Mia, it wasn't Drayfus, besides, Drayfus had silver on her, so she's not all black in the first place, and her eyes are sapphire." Celena explained.

"That little detail slipped my mind" Stars replied.

"Where did it come from anyway?" Nadeshiko asked, "It's not like Taru could just make them out of thin air."

"True," Rowen said, "but those dragons serve anyone, sometimes, it's even rumored that Drayfus' own clan is descended from them in the first place."

"**WHAT!"** the others gasped.

"When did you hear about that!" Ryo asked, quite shocked at the news.

"Well, Drayfus told me herself actually." Strata replied, "She said it was around the time that the people of the past were trying to decide who would represent the Darkness Kingdom's dragons, they had first decided that it would be the fire ones since some of them are born black, but around that time the black dragons had started some kind of war against the people, they outnumbered them a million to one mostly, some of the black dragons though, about twenty or thirty of them, thought that the war was pretty meaningless in the first place, so they sided with the people and the other dragons from the fire clan, the air clan, etc…and fought with them to stop their own kind from destroying their world, after the war, the black dragons that sided with the people were given the color silver and different eye colors like blue or green to separate them from their kindred, and since they sided with us and they were black to begin with, everyone of that time decided for them to be the Darkness Kingdom's dragon guardians, they sometimes even disguised the silver color on them to spy on the black dragons to make sure everything is in order and so they don't start another war"

"Wow." Celena gasped pretty stunned by Drayfus' past, "I don't even think Lee knows that story."

"She doesn't" Strata said calmly, "Drayfus said she never got a chance to tell Lee in the first place."

"Well that's new, she usually doesn't keep any secrets from Lee." Mia said.

"I know that, she just didn't feel right telling her, saying it might ruin their friendship." Rowen replied.

"That's nuts, Lee would never do a thing like that!" Celena exclaimed.

"Excuse me, if you're all done arguing we'd like to resume walking toward the palace before that thing comes back, if you don't mind." Reika cut in.

"Alright, let's go, and hopefully we won't have anymore interruptions." Ryo agreed.

**SSSSSSSSS**

As they walked a little further the ground seemed to smooth out, the road was straight and none of the buildings were torn down at all. The cars were all in perfect shape, no windows broken or doors dented as they were behind them. "That's weird, you'd think these would be destroyed as well." Sage said, "It looks like nothing's even been down here."

"Yeah, you're right I wonder why that…oof" Rowen said as he smacked into something, "what the…"

"That's what I'd like to know." Celena came up beside him and felt out in front of her.

Her hand pressed up against something hard and invisible to the eye. "It looks like a force field." she said finally.

"A force field?" Ryudo sounded puzzled, "what's it doing here?"

"Protecting the palace…look" Celena pointed to something inside the force field's walls and sure enough there was the Palace.

"Okay, we made it to the palace, but how do we get passed this force field." Touma asked.

"That's easy, watch." Celena said.

She walked up to the force field and knocked two times slowly, then three times fast, she then stepped back and waited. Sure enough the force field started to glow and a small door about six feet in height appeared. "Wow!" the children exclaimed.

"Let's go before it closes." Celena said walking through.

The others followed suit and the doorway closed behind them, and blending in so it looked like there was no door was ever there. They walked along the completely untouched street towards their destination. As they approached there was something huge blocking the street. "Ahh, what's that!" Sali exclaimed pointing at the creature. The others stared at the creature upon closer inspection they found that it had dark blue scales, with gold horns, claws, teeth, and the inside of it's wings were gold as well. It was curled up and appeared to be sleeping, whatever it was. "Is it that creature from before." Leeanna asked nervously.

Rowen laughed, "No, does that creature look black to you?"

"Well, no." Leeanna replied, but then she jumped back as the creature seemed to stir.

"Ahhh, it moved!" Nadeshiko cried.

The creature let out a low growl, opened its dark blue eyes and stared at the Ronins. "Ahhh, it's alive!" Sakura gasped, clinging to Touma's arm.

The creature raised its long neck, and its head came to about the middle of the buildings surrounding them since it was lying down. It then moved its head closer to them; the end of its nose just stopped about five feet from the group. It sniffed a little, apparently smelling them, to find out what they were. It snorted, as if they smelled bad to it, and a rush of hot air surrounded the Ronins, and the creature opened its mouth.

"It's gonna eat us!" Leeanna shouted, not bothering to hide the fear in her voice.

The creature snorted again at them, as if it was laughing. "Now why would I go and do a thing like that little one?" the creature asked.

Leeanna made a face, "Oh great now the oversized lizard is talking". The creature seemed to take offense to this, because it snorted dark blue flames as her.

"Yikes!" Leeanna jumped, hiding behind her brother.

"You'll have to excuse her Skylar, she doesn't really know how to talk to dragons, yet." Rowen said.

"Apparently not, otherwise she wouldn't be so rude." the Dragon of Air replied, glancing in Leeanna's direction.

"Sorry," Leeanna said apologetically, as she stepped out from behind Touma, "but I've never talked to a dragon before."

"What!" Celena exclaimed, "I thought you knew the dragons that are in the future."

"We do, and we have talked to them, just not in their real forms." Leeanna replied.

"Real forms?" Kento asked.

"What she means is that they have only seen the dragons in their human forms, and their personalities in those forms are very different then those that they have in their dragon forms" Celena explained.

Skylar snorted flames again this time aiming and almost burned Leeanna, before she jumped out of the way. "Now really Skylar, that's no way to treat them" said a voice. The others glanced to the dragon's left for the owner of the voice. Skylar snorted hot air in that direction when he looked toward the voice. The owner of the voice was dressed in a sky-blue shirt, and pants with a cloth belt and Japanese style slippers. The shirt, pants and belt were made of the same material that was used to make the robes that the tigers and guardians wore. His eyes were a sea-green color, and his long hair was a shade of blue that was lighter than the clothes he wore and almost reached his knees. "But that girl insulted me Oceanus!" Skylar said angrily.

"I know, but one little insult can't hurt you're reputation, now can it?" Oceanus replied calmly.

Skylar thought about this for a minute, "No, I guess not" he said finally, "but what are you doing out here anyway, didn't your brother tell you not to leave the palace until he got back little one?"

Oceanus' eyes narrowed at being called little one, "The reason I'm out here is that Volco is looking for you so I suggest you go to him before he blows up the part of the city that we've managed to save looking for you."

"Alright, but you get back inside the palace right after I leave, and can you take them with you?" the Air dragon motioned toward the Ronins.

Oceanus glanced over at the Ronins and nodded, "Yes I will, now will you get going". "Alright little one, I'll see you later."

There was a strong wind as Skylar flapped his wings, he took off from the ground and flew in the direction that Oceanus had said Volco was. Oceanus let out the breath that he had been holding. 'Man, I thought he'd never leave, and why must he call me little one all the time?' he thought to himself. "Getting use of your human form, Oceanus?" Cye asked the transformed dragon.

Oceanus turned, "I guess you could call it that."

"So how have things been going" Kento asked.

"As you can see, not so well." the Water Dragon replied.

"At least you were able to save some of the city, master dragon." Leeanna said quietly.

Oceanus turned his eyes on Leeanna, not used to being called that by anyone. "Please don't call me that, it's just Oceanus to you." he replied.

"But I thought that dragons had a certain reputation, as you called it, to uphold whatever form there in." Darkness looked at him curiously.

"True, but I don't like having people say that, I'm not too fond of formal things" Oceanus said.

"You mean you don't want anything to do with people who formally address you?" Leeanna asked.

The Water Dragon nodded.

"Oceanus is a lot younger that most of the dragons Leeanna" Celena said, "you only have to use the formal greetings on the older ones, like Skylar for example, that's why he was so upset."

"Oh." Leeanna said.

"I'm guessing that where you guys disappeared to, was the future?" Oceanus asked.

"Right." Celena replied.

"Oh, so that's why some of you have doubles of yourselves." the dragon tilted his head to one side.

The past Ronins nodded. Celena then introduced Oceanus to the other children, considering that he already knew Leeanna. Oceanus nodded to each of them, then turned toward the palace and motioned them to follow.

"Os tahw saw siht ymene taht uoy tnew ot taefed?" the dragon asked. The future Ronins looked at each other since none of the understood what he meant.

"Eht ymene si a ytsanyd roirraw, tros fo, ehs saw nesohc yb nomadab ot yldesoppus deeccus mih, dna ehs koot revo eht elohw ytsanyd, retfa lla fo meht erew enog, fo esruoc" Cye answered.**£**

Sali looked at Celena questioningly, "What are they saying?"

Celena turned and quietly explained to her and the other children what the conversation was about, since they didn't understand a word that Oceanus and Cye were saying.

"Alright here we are." Oceanus said as the reached the door of the palace.

"Whoa, that was fast." Reika said quietly.

Oceanus pushed open the door and led them inside, into the great hall of the palace. "Odd. I thought that the others would at least be here to greet you." the dragon said.

**CRASH**

"Oh great, what are they up to now?" Oceanus sighed, as he walked towards the dining room door and walked in.

The Ronins looked at each other, then followed slowly.

**SSSSSSSSS**

The past Ronins reached the door first and looked inside to probably what was the craziest scene that they had ever seen. For one, Naaza was running around the dining room table while munching on some cookies. Rajura was right behind him, yelling at him to give him the cookies. Then right behind him was Kahlan, holding a frying pan over her head, running behind Rajura and yelling **"GIVE ME BACK THOSE COOKIES NOW!"**

Since they weren't allowed to touch them until after dinner. Shiten was just sitting in one of the dining table's chairs, sitting back with his feet on the table, enjoying the entire scene like it was some sort of movie. Then Saphrita and Anubis entered the room and stared at the scene before them. Lee was sitting beside them reading but looked up when they entered the room. "They're at it again aren't they?" she asked.

"Yes. I don't know when they'll ever get over this." Jewels replied, shaking her sapphire colored bangs out of her eyes.

"You never know when it's those three." Anubis said shaking his head.

Suddenly, Naaza tripped causing all the cookies to fly into the air. Though before Rajura could jump after them Kahlan, who had caught up with him, hit him over the head with the frying pan. "Well that takes care of that." she said as she walked over and picked up the bag of cookies.

"Aren't you guys getting tired of chasing each other all the time?" Lee asked as she put her book to the side.

"Well I wouldn't chase them if they would stop stealing all the food that I make." Kahlan said angrily.

"True but you know those two just love your cooking" Shiten said.

Kahlan sighed, "I know but they ruin everything that I plan to have as a surprise for the rest of you."

"Then why don't we put a lock on the kitchen door when you're cooking in there and then they can't get at whatever it is you have in there." Anubis suggested.

"Isn't that a little harsh though, what if one of us has to get into the kitchen for something" Saphrita asked.

"Then Kahlan will let you in, because only she will have the key that will open the lock to the door." Anubis replied.

"I guess that works." Lee said thoughtfully.

**SSSSSSSSS**

"What in the world was going on in here?" Oceanus asked as he walked into the room.

"Oh Naaza and Rajura were having an argument over Kahlan's cooking again" Anubis said. "They never get tired of that." the dragon said, "Have any of you seen Icoro at all today?"

"No we haven't seen him all day." Shiten said.

"That's weird I told him to wait in the front hall for me." Oceanus murmured.

"Well he may have had something else to do. Why?" Lee asked.

"What did I have to do?" said a voice behind Lee.

"AAAHHHHH!" Lee shrieked, and whirled around.

She came face to face with a boy just about her height, maybe a little taller, with long light blue hair with sliver streaks in it, green eyes, and he was wearing a blue T-shirt, white jeans, and blue tennis shoes. Icoro just stared at her calmly, "What's with all the screaming?" he asked.

"I've told you not to sneak up on me before haven't I?" Lee retorted, "I'm still not used to seeing you at eye level!"

"Sorry." the water tiger said apologetically.

Then he turned to his friend. "Sorry about that Oceanus, I needed to take care of something urgent."

"Never mind, it's okay." Oceanus replied.

"Yeah I doubt it really was urgent." Kahlan said smugly.

"Are you looking to be made into a scratching post?" Icoro said angrily.

"No" she replied, "but you never do anything urgent anyway, unless it involves catnip."

Icoro growled.

"Well I see you guys are getting along as good as ever" Celena said, entering the room.

"**HIME-SAMA!**" Saphrita cried as she, Lee, and Kahlan ran to their friend.

"Hello Saphy, Lee, Kahlan." Celena said.

"You're not hurt are you?" Saphrita said checking Celena all over for cuts or gashes.

"Saphy, I assure you that I'm fine. Okay?" Celena replied.

"Positive?" Saphrita looked doubtful.

Celena nodded.

"Okay." Saphy said, then went to stand next to Anubis again.

"It's good to see you guys again" Shiten said.

"It's good to be home." Ryo said, "But what happened out there?"

"What does it look like?" Lee snorted, "That enemy that you were supposed to be fighting came here and destroyed half the city, but it's a good thing Saphy here saw it coming or we wouldn't have gotten all the people out of the city in time."

"Good job Saphy." Celena said.

"Only doing my duty Hime." Saphrita replied.

"Is there anything you wish to explain to us about this enemy from the future?" Kahlan asked.

"Yes, but before that we have some people we'd like you to meet." Celena turned towards the door.

Taking their cue from Celena the children stepped into the light.

"H-holy." Lee stammered.

"C-Celena?" Saphrita asked.

"Yes these are the Ronins of the Future." Celena replied.

"Amazing, I never would have guessed." Lee said sarcastically.

"Very funny Lee." Rowen said.

Sali looked at Anubis and Saphrita, and asked completely out of the blue, "Are you two dating?"

"WHAT!" Anubis gasped, completely embarrassed. "NO! We are not going out!" Saphrita said angrily, "Why does everyone ask that!"

Sali cowered. "I'm sorry it was just a question."

"I suggest you don't use that tone when speaking to my daughter Saphrita." Celena said.

Saphrita stared at her, "Y-your daughter!"

Celena nodded, "Yes my daughter, don't you see the resemblance, some of them are your own children as well."

Saphrita looked at all of the children, her eyes coming to a stop on Sakura, "Yes I can see what you mean."

"Hey Cel, Mia, since you two have kids you must be married, right?" Lee asked.

"Yeah we are." Mia said, "So?"

"Soooo...who are you two married to!" Lee asked in a rush.

"Well, umm" Mia stammered.

"I don't know Lee, none of them look like Mia at all." Kahlan said.

Reika and Ryudo turned to look at each other and laughed. "I not surprised you wouldn't see the resemblance since we both look like our dad." Reika said.

"Oh" Lee gasped, "Mia you mean you're married to…"

"**RYO!"** Saphrita and Kahlan both exclaimed, almost about to burst out with laughter. Mia nodded.

"Holy cow!" Kahlan said.

"And what about you Hime?" Saphrita asked.

"Well, you'll just have to guess, but do you three want to know who you three are married to?" Celena asked.

All three of the girls nodded.

"Okay first, Saphrita, you're married to Sage." Celena said.

"**WHAT, I'M MARRIED TO CASANOVA!"** Saphrita shouted.

"**HEY, I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME THAT!"** Sage shouted back.

"I can't believe this." she said in exasperation.

"I thought you might say that." Celena said, "Next, Kahlan, you're married to Kento."

"**I'M MARRIED TO THE PIG!"** Kahlan shouted.

"**HEY, THAT WAS MEAN!"** Kento exclaimed.

"Well, I'm sorry but you are sometimes." Kahlan said.

"Yeah, I guess your right." Kento replied.

Celena laughed, "And last but not least, Lee, you are married to Rowen."

"**WHAT, I'M MARRIED TO THE BRAINIAC!"** Lee shouted.

"**HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME THAT!"** Rowen shouted back.

"Only about eight hundred and ninety-nine times well nine hundred now, but whose counting. And besides you are a brainiac at times anyway." Lee said.

Rowen growled.

"Hey, settle down children, you can argue later." Celena said calmly.

"So I guess that means you're married to Cye. Right Hime?" Saphrita said.

"That's right." Celena said.

"Okay so we know who we're married to, can we please know what their names are." Kahlan said pointing at the children.

The children looked at each other then at Celena.

Celena nodded, "Go ahead, you might as well since you'll be staying here awhile."

The children nodded. "My name is Ryudo Sanada." said the boy with long black hair.

The girl with long, straight, black hair next to him went next, "I'm Reika Sanada."

"I'm Touma Hashiba, and this is Leeanna Hashiba." said a boy with short blue hair, and he pointed to the girl next to him with long black hair that was in pigtails.

"My name's Seiji Date, and this is Sakura Date." a boy with blonde hair, like Sage's said, and he pointed to the girl next to him with long sapphire hair that was pulled back like Saphrita's was.

"I'm Shu Faun, and this is my sister Nadeshiko Faun." said a boy with ash black hair, and he pointed to the girl next to him with long knee-length brown hair.

"My name is Shin Mouri." said the boy with shoulder length auburn hair.

"And I'm Sali Mouri." the girl with flaming red hair, that was in a ponytail, next to him said.

"Okay, that's all of them?" Saphrita asked.

Celena nodded.

"Are all of you brother and sister?" Lee asked.

"Yes we are." Leeanna replied, "Even though not all of us acknowledged that fact."

"Amazing. But what are you doing here though, I thought you would be in the future not here trying to help us." Kahlan asked.

"True that's what we thought, but when we were in Taru's castle, we sort of followed them down some strange stairs, then through a subway, then walked though the city, ran into three dragons, and then finally ended up here." Leeanna explained.

"What do you mean three dragons?" Naaza asked curiously.

"Well we ran into Skylar, and Oceanus," Rowen said, "but before that a huge black dragon came up out of the ground in front of us while we were still in the city, luckily it didn't see us at all, otherwise we'd all be burnt to a crisp by now."

"What black dragon?" asked a voice from the door.

They all turned around to see a woman standing there. The owner of the voice was dressed in a jet-black shirt, and pants with a cloth belt and Japanese style slippers. The shirt, pants and belt were made of the same material that was used to make the robes that the tigers and guardians wore. Her eyes were a sapphire color, and her long hair was a shade of black that was the same shade as the clothes she wore and it reached her knees. "Hello Drayfus." Lee said as the transformed dragon walked down the steps.

Drayfus nodded, "What do you mean a black dragon Rowen?"

"Well we saw a black dragon rip out from under the ground, and unless our black dragons have sided with the enemy, they could already be serving the enemy without us knowing about them until now." Rowen said.

"As far as I know Rowen, none of the black dragons have sided against us, they're probably all in they're caves in the Mystic Realm." Drayfus said.

"That would be a great relief if we knew for sure though Dray." a male voice asked from the doorway.

Drayfus turned around to see another of her dragon companions. He was about two inches taller then Volco, and he had knee-length silver hair which stood out against his cream-colored shirt, pants, and shoes. His silver bangs falling into his sea-green eyes, which were warm as he watched them. "Hello Blizzard, when did you get back?" Drayfus asked, as the Dragon of Ice walked over to them.

"Just a few minutes ago actually, Skylar informed me of what happened while I was gone." Blizzard replied.

Drayfus nodded, "I assure you though my friend that none of the Black Dragons from the Mystic Realm have left their caves to come here otherwise I would know about it."

**TBC...**

**£ - **Os tahw saw siht ymene taht uoy tnew ot taefed?" "So what was this enemy that you went to defeat?"

"Eht ymene si a ytsanyd roirraw, tros fo, ehs saw nesohc yb nomadab ot yldesoppus deeccus mih, dna ehs koot revo eht elohw ytsanyd, retfa lla fo meht erew enog, fo esruoc." "The enemy is a dynasty warrior, sort of, she was chosen by Badamon to supposedly succeed him, and she took over the whole dynasty after all of them were gone, of course."

**Author Note: **Please R and R. Will update as soon as I can. Thank you. Ja ne.


End file.
